The Shoprite Group has partnered with NERSA licensed energy trader, Enpower Trading, to participate in the City of Cape Town’s renewable energy wheeling pilot, in what promises to be a new key tool in their carbon reduction strategy.
Shoprite is currently one of the companies participating in the City of Cape Town’s Wheeling Pilot Program. The program is designed to increase the cities resilience against load shedding and is part of their wider strategy to bring more renewable energy onto their municipal grid.
The pilot allows Shoprite to generate renewable energy at their Checkers Hyper Brackenfell at Fairbridge Mall, where they have a large embedded solar system and wheel the excess energy they produce, through the municipal grid, to their head office campus.
Shoprite is working with Enpower Trading, a licenced energy trader, to facilitate the wheeling process. Enpower Trading is one of the only companies with experience in municipal wheeling, having wheeled in the George Municipality since 2022.
“We are excited to be part of the City’s wheeling pilot project alongside the Shoprite Group,” said James Beatty, CEO at Enpower Trading. “This collaboration exemplifies our dedication to advancing renewable energy solutions and contributing to a greener future for Cape Town.”
These initial operations within Cape Town, underscore a scalable commitment to sustainable energy practices by both parties, whilst highlighting the potential for effective private-public cooperation in addressing the country’s energy crisis.
‘We’re so excited about this pilot project and we’re looking forward to working with Enpower Trading. A lot of hard work is going into the City energy programmes. Our wheeling pilot is organised in six coherent work packages that set the basis for contractual agreements, municipal wheeling and associated feed-in tariffs, metering and data requirements, wheeling implementation, which includes contracts and metering vetting as well as testing and evaluation,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
Following on from the pilot phase, Shoprite will have the opportunity to greatly increase their renewable energy penetration by sourcing further energy for their domestic retail footprint from Enpower Trading’s portfolio of renewable energy across the country.
