When load-shedding occurs, Hyundai Automotive South Africa’s head office in Bedfordview and several of its Gauteng dealerships run on solar power.
More than 240 solar panels have been installed on the roof of the headquarters, delivering 110 kW on a typical spring sunshine day.
The project was launched on May 1, 2022, and work on the installations began in mid-June. By the middle of September, all of the solar systems had been commissioned and fully installed.
The goal of the solar photovoltaic (PV) project was to reduce Hyundai Automotive SA’s and its dealer network’s electricity bills and consumption, as well as to make Hyundai’s operations in South Africa more environmentally friendly by lowering its carbon footprint. “We investigated the benefits of installing solar power due to the frequency of power interruptions caused by load shedding and the cost of running diesel-burning generators.” Another goal of this project is to run our operations as much as possible on clean energy, which aligns with one of our brand’s core values,” says Stanley Anderson, sales and operations director at Hyundai Automotive SA.
The R14 million solar project at the head office and some Gauteng dealerships follows the installation of a solar energy system at Hyundai Automotive SA’s Parts Distribution Centre (PDC) in Germiston in 2019 and early 2020 to reduce its carbon footprint and reliance on municipal power, and thus reduce exposure to load shedding.
According to Anesh Parhanse, General Manager: Of properties at Hyundai Automotive SA,
“We do not yet store power at the head office and dealerships on the East Rand, but we feed electricity back into the power grid when there is a surplus.
All installations are grid-connected and generator-powered. When there is load shedding and not enough sunlight, the generator kicks in. and 3 p.m. When there is enough sunlight, we are off the Eskom grid 90% of the time. We are completely off the grid on a bright sunny day with clear skies”.
“We have saved more than R8 000 in electricity costs at our head office since installation.” The savings are expected to grow exponentially over time and with the installation of batteries for electrical power storage. We can already switch to a smaller diesel generator for the time being. Apart from the environmental aspect, the cost of diesel and running a generator was a major consideration when we looked into installing solar power systems,”
says Parhanse.
Solar power systems were also installed at three Hyundai dealerships on the West Rand – Hyundai Roodepoort, Bryanston, and Weltevreden Park – and two in the Pretoria region – Hyundai Zambesi and Silver Lakes – according to Johan Nel, regional general manager at Hyundai Automotive SA. All of these installations use fewer solar panels, but they have the advantage of storing power in batteries.
“During load shedding, we can keep everything running from solar power at the dealerships on the West Rand and in Pretoria without having to rely on a diesel generator,”
Nel says.
According to Nel, the vision is to expand to more Hyundai dealerships in the Hyundai network after studying current installations and their performance, which would indicate which system delivers better results and savings: one using solar panels and batteries for power storage, or one using solar panels with only an inverter.
