As South Africa continues to deal with the energy crisis, one of the country’s largest pet nutrition brands, Montego, has invested R33 million in converting one of its manufacturing plants to run on solar energy.
The company said that was its way of contributing to SA’s energy transition, for a greener, brighter tomorrow.
This comes after a R22m investment kicked off the dedicated solar installation and energy storage plant at its Graaff-Reinet production facility in 2019.
The company said that it had decided to invest another R11m to take energy resilience to the next level.
Kallie Venter, the engineering manager at Montego Pet Nutrition, said: “The previous system featured an 843kWp PV array, spanning 4 580m² of rooftop space. With it, we reduced our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the tune of 1.2 million kilogrammes and saved us millions in energy and fuel costs.
“It also spelt the end of our load shedding woes, meaning we could run production everyday, 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,” he said.
He said the project was so successful that they were producing around 200kW a day in excess capacity, which was being fed back into the national electricity supply grid, “so we’re also contributing to alleviating the energy crisis overall”.
The group said it planned to install PV systems at all its manufacturing facilities, commencing with the Centurion plant early next year.
“The project has already been approved and contracted to a local company,” Venter added.
Wilfred Cawood, Montego’s marketing executive said: “Part of our mission to be the leading pet food manufacturer in Africa, is our commitment to becoming a low-carbon company and playing a role in sustaining our environment.
“We’re proud to be one of the private sector players taking a leading role in driving transformation in the energy space. We’ll keep pushing to ramp up our contributions, both to alleviating the energy crisis and towards building a sustainable prosperous future for everyone in SA.
“Furthermore, it’s allowing us to continue producing at the required levels during load shedding, ensuring that the pets that love Montego have food in their bowls.”
BUSINESS REPORT