Israeli ambassador to South Africa Dov Sergev-Steinberg and Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Enoch Godongwana recently inaugurated a 117-flat-panel-collector solar water heating installation atop the Da Vinci hotel, in Sandton.
The hotel is the latest development of the Legacy group, which is also the developer, contractor and owner of the Michelangelo, the Michelangelo Towers and the Raphael Penthouse suites, in Sandton.
The company responsible for the solar installation is Kayema Energy Solutions, and the Kayema international solar experts worked together with Legacy’s architects and design engineers to implement the solution.
The project is complete and commissioning of the system will start by April this year.
Kayema Energy commercial projects manager Dovi Finger explains that the installation took about six months to complete. The initial two months were dedicated to the engineering and planning phase of the project, while installation took about three months.
The project has been described as challenging owing the shape of the roof. Also, the roof is used as a fire escape, which meant that the panels needed to be raised 2,1 m to allow movement underneath the panels. This required higher structural steel platforms for the panels. The roof also had to be reinforced to handle the extra weight of the panels.
The solar water heating system can preheat 30 000 ℓ of water before it enters the hotel’s electrical heating system, and this is expected to reduce the electricity consumption by about 60%.
Kayema also introduced a remote monitoring system, which monitors flow rates, temperatures and water pressure and will allow an instantaneous view of the system’s efficiency and performance from any computer desktop at any time.
The installation consists of 117 2-kWh flat panel collectors, which use Israeli technology, and which Finger says are reliable and easy to maintain.
It is estimated that 500 000 kWh/y of electricity will be saved, while some 210 t of carbon dioxide emissions will be mitigated.
The return on investment is expected between seven and ten years.
“For a private developer, it’s still a tough decision – we need to reduce that return on investment to three to five years. And that’s the gap that we are working very hard with Eskom and the regulator to reduce,” Kayema energy solutions MD Daniel Schwab tells Engineering News.
Kayema Energy Solutions GM James Shirley notes that Eskom is working on a commercial rebate for projects, which could push developers towards solar water heater installations. Shirley further adds that companies should see renewable energy as an investment, not merely a purchase.
Schwab notes that Kayema Energy Solutions is looking beyond solar water heating and considering developments in solar photovoltaic systems, as well as concentrating solar thermal power genera- tion. “We see ourselves as the integrated choice for solar projects,” he adds.
Kayema Energy Solutions focuses on property developers in South Africa, and suggests that the utility business model is the most appropriate for the South African market.
“We are selling energy – kilowatt hours. We don’t sell the actual systems. “We provide a turnkey solution, so we work closely with the financing institutions and with the regulators here in South Africa to ensure that the developer has security of supply at the best price possible,” says Schwab.
He adds that the company’s core competence is integrating various technologies and coming up with a solution, with a business model behind it.
With regard to skills capacity for solar installations, Shirley notes that, in the commercial sector, there will be skills development as bigger companies start to roll out installations on a larger scale.
“Private companies in South Africa will mobilise and will move very quickly once funds are made available, or once there is a guarantee that the work can happen. “They will develop the skills,” Shirley confirms.
“We don’t have a skills shortage,” says Schwab. “We have a demand shortage – the market is not growing as fast as people on the ground would like to see it grow.
“Energy is a highly regulated industry. You have to have regulation. It has to be pro- development, and that needs to be put in pace as quickly as possible,” Schwab concludes.
By Christy van der Merwe
Article Source: engineeringnews.co.za
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