The Palace goes even greener
The annual power production of the solar plant could power 1 000 standard, 3 bedroomed family homes for a year
THE construction of one of the largest roof top solar PV (photovoltaic) plants in South Africa has commenced at Emperors Palace and the second phase of the project has just been completed.
“After nine months of installations, the 2.723MWp solar PV plant is now fully functional,” comments Dave Milne, Peermont Hotel and Resort executive.
The building of the solar PV plant at Emperors Palace was completed by Terra Firma Solutions, who first conducted a study to ensure the roof could support the weight of the solar panels and equipment.
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As a result, the plant was split up into smaller plants (arrays), across different roof sections. The study also entailed an analysis of the electrical demand of the site and due to its scale, it was concluded that all the solar power produced, will be utilised by Emperors Palace directly.
Ed Gluckman, managing director of Terra Firma Solutions says, “The solar PV plant at Emperors Palace is one of the largest; if not the largest rooftop solar PV plants built to date on a hospitality and gaming site in South Africa and quite possibly the entire southern hemisphere. At peak production, the solar PV plant is expected to produce 38 to 45 per cent of Emperors Palace’s electricity power requirement.”
All in all, the 8 949 solar panels which have been installed cover about 17 000 square meters of roof, which includes a 1.1 MW shaded parking structure.
This means the annual power production of the solar plant could power 1 000 standard, three-bedroom family homes for a year.
