- South Africa’s leading pet nutrition brand, Montego, is proudly contributing to the country’s energy transition for a greener, brighter tomorrow.
Following their R22-million investment, which kicked off the dedicated solar installation and energy storage plant at our Graaff-Reinet production facility in 2019, they have invested another R11 million in solar power for their head office.
Kallie Venter, engineering manager at Montego Pet Nutrition, breaks it down: “The previous system featured an 843kWp PV array, spanning 4 580 square metres of rooftop space. With it, we reduced our carbon dioxide emissions to the tune of 1.2 million kilogrammes – saving us millions in energy and fuel costs. It also spelt the end of our loadshedding woes, meaning we could run production every day, regardless of the local power outage schedule.
“Comprising over two thousand 550W panels and covering more or less the entire roof of our head office in Graaff-Reinet, the new upgrade takes it a step further. The extensive installation, which took four months to complete, was entrusted to BDL Solar. What’s more, we’ve integrated and digitised the solar energy plants to allow remote monitoring and control of the entire system, online, in real time.
“The project has been so successful that we’re actually producing around 200kW per day in excess capacity, which we feed back into the national electricity supply grid, so we’re also contributing to alleviating the energy crisis overall,” he enthuses.
And this is just the beginning. The group plans to install PV systems at all their manufacturing facilities, commencing with the Centurion plant early next year. The project has already been approved and contracted to a local company,” Venter adds.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
