| Work Detail |
Electrolux South Africas R3.5 million ($193k) solar installation investment helps ensure the organisations global strategy to achieve its Better Living 2030 goal of zero carbon emissions.
The initiative also moves the company one step closer to being completely non-reliant on the Eskom grid after it installed its first corporate solar PV system at its Kwikot Western Cape branch.
Electrolux SA IT head Johan Van Pletzen comments: "This solar installation is part of Electroluxs sustainability mission in which it is utilising renewable and green energy as far as possible."
Van Pletzen is leading the Electrolux UV solar panel project, which will be implemented in three more Kwikot branches in Benoni, Durban, and the Eastern Cape over the next few months.
Loadshedding factor pushes solar installation journey
Murray Crow, Electroluxs MD for South Africa, says the solar journey began when Electrolux invested R16 million ($882k) in introducing renewable energy at their industrial site in Benoni with various solar panel installations.
Going solar was an obvious next move, he says.
"The branches will be run on solar power as part of our strategy to move away from fossil fuels, be more self-sustaining and keep Mother Earth breathing," says Crow.
Loadshedding, which takes away 4.5 hours of productive work daily from the company, gave extra impetus to the companys green strategy. Last year, South Africa experienced a record-breaking 6,800 hours of loadshedding - almost double that experienced in 2022.
"Loadshedding and the inability to work during blackouts have really put a damper on staff morale, and hits productivity. With the solar panels in place the team can do the hours without interruption."
With escalating Eskom tariffs, there is also a "small saving of money spent on power, but it is not significant - in the bigger picture, the drive is for sustainable power away from unclean power". |
