In the economic realm, the South African Reserve Bank has already reduced its economic growth forecast for this year to 0.3%, from 1.1% previously, with South African Reserve Bank anticipating power disruptions to shave two percentage points off economic growth in 2023 (SARB, 2023). From a business perspective, operational implications need to be considered.

South Africa is experiencing energy supply challenges which, at best, can be summarised as having catastrophic implications for the economy. Load-shedding has come and gone, only to remain for the interim. The interim, in this case, is potentially the next 5 – 10 years. From an electricity supply perspective, the country will need to bolster its generation capacity to support energy security using alternative technology options as a matter of economic urgency and swift deployment.

By Songo Didiza & Sumaya Mahomed / Published in Wattnow Magazine – March 2023

There’s the cost of downtime and business disruption – up to five times daily- and many businesses are at high risk with their equipment, so maintenance costs also escalate. These operational challenges drive many businesses and households to explore and implement alternative energy supply options. Pressure to shift away from Eskom has also mounted with a recent electricity price hike authorised by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), allowing the utility to hike prices by 18.65% from 1 April 2023, which further drives the need to look for alternatives. These often come in the form of solar, diesel and battery options or a combination to reduce the financial implications and thus ensure business continuity. However, these alternative energy supply technology options often come at an additional and high capital expenditure. These rising alternative costs now require the business sector to view their planned energy investments more holistically, with the starting point being energy efficiency fundamentals for all building portfolios (industrial, commercial and retail).

Energy Efficiency and Energy Performance Certification (EPC)

Energy Efficiency is “The first fuel of a sustainable global energy system” as it represents the cleanest, cheapest and fastest way of meeting our immediate energy needs (IEA). With the property and building services sector now required to obtain Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) for their buildings, the next step is to use the findings of the EPC to implement energy efficiency initiatives to save on energy costs and limit carbon emissions. As much as load-shedding is placing pressure on property asset owners to invest in alternative energy technology, this should not dissuade them from applying oversight in the energy management response planning process. Energy Efficiency remains the cornerstone of an effective energy management strategy, and perhaps more appropriately, when executives are surrounded by renewable energy cacophony to add to their rising concerns.

Financial Perspective

The Energy Savings Business Model planning process is best explained using the graphic (figure 1) to illustrate the 7-step process: The 7-step integrated approach enables business owners to understand the real costs of managing their operational energy usage, optimising its usage for business growth. This energy planning can only happen with building occupants in mind. The outcome of looking at these alternative energy technology options has proven financial savings results as observed by the diversified client portfolio comprising commercial and industrial buildings between 2000 sqm and 15 000 sqm (as shown in table 1). The table carefully highlights some of the targeted energy efficiency interventions readily available to business consumers as they strive to stave off the operational challenges that have resulted from the energy supply shortage issues.

Conclusion

On the demand side, business and residential consumers can play a significant role in supporting energy security by reducing how much power they use. Energy Efficiency is the approach where no costly interventions may be required to achieve the results, such as using only what you need, i.e. switching off non-essential loads results in immediate savings and increases the country’s energy supply capacity. This can be guided greatly through implementing cost-effective smart metering technology and targeted Behavioural Change campaigns aimed at building occupants, which are considered low-cost interventions. These integrated interventions reflect that the load-shedding problem can not only be solved through placing a CAPEX-intensive solar panel on the roof, however, but the response measures also require an integrated energy management solution for the long-term benefits to be realised by all the stakeholders. The business case of Energy efficiency is that it reduces the cost of solar by supporting fit-for-purpose system sizes, thereby maximising the solar investment. Therefore, energy efficiency remains critical in our integrated response to the load-shedding challenge.

References

• https://www.resbank.co.za/en/home/publications/publication-detail-pages/quarterly-bulletins/boxes/2022/December/Measuresofelectricityload-shedding
• https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/load-shedding-why-the-energy-efficiency-of-your-fridge-matters-20220314