Building Energy donated an off-grid solar PV rooftop power plant with a capacity of 3.12 kwp (DC) to the Italian Consulate in the South African city of Cape Town. The plant, composed of 12 PV panels, will generate about 5 MWh of energy every year, contributing to significantly decrease the building’s carbon footprint through reduced reliance on the national grid.
“We are excited for being here today to celebrate the inauguration of the solar rooftop system, developed by Building Energy for the Consulate of Italy in Cape Town. – said Matteo Brambilla, MD Africa and Middle East at Building Energy – We are also proud to be making our contribution in providing the building with a power plant to produce clean and sustainable renewable energy that can help the Consulate reduce its reliance on grid electricity.”
“This Consulate of Italy is proud to partner with Building Energy for a project that will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as our electricity bills – said Alfonso Tagliaferri, Consul of Italy in Cape Town – “I want to personally thank the company’s MD Matteo Brambilla, together with all his team, for having believed in this idea from the very beginning, notwithstanding the technical and administrative challenges it implied. This sponsorship’s importance is twofold: on the one hand it testifies the vitality and the competence of the Italian business presence in Cape Town; on the other hand it perfectly fits the global effort in fighting climate change initiated since 2012 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the ‘Green Farnesina’ initiative, which sees the Ministry, together with several Italian Embassies and Consulates around the world, reduce their carbon footprint in a shift towards renewable energies, paperless workflow and recycling.”
Building Energy will soon begin the construction of a 140 MW wind project in Roggeveld, in the Laingsburg area between the Northern and Western Cape Provinces, which will generate approximately 600 GWh per year. Among the other projects that Building Energy will start constructing in the next 12 months, is a 5 MW wind farm in Klawer, two 5 MW photovoltaic plants in Skuitdrift and a 4.7 MW small-hydro project in Kruisvallei, in the Free State Province.