The eThekwini Municipality hopes its solar photovoltaic project opened at uShaka Marine World will alleviate pressure on the electricity grid and decrease its carbon footprint.
The municipality’s Energy Office acting manager Sibusiso Ntshalintshali said they would be observing the performance of the systems in the coming 12 months.
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“We trust the systems are relatively good and get the generation capacity that we are expecting. That would be incredible for us to plan for a bigger roll-out,” said Ntshalintshali.
The Energy Office Solar project has seen the three-phase project installing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels on five municipal buildings.
The embedded rooftop solar PV generation was installed at uShaka Marine Theme Park, Moses Mabhida stadium Sky Car, Metro Police headquarters and the eThekwini Water ,Moses Mabhida People’s Park restaurant, and Sanitation Customer Service buildings.
The project cost US $756,704 inclusive of all operational and maintenance expenses and will be observed over a one-year phase.
Councillor Ntandoyenkosi Khuzwayo said the city was thrilled by the development. “We are devoted to clean renewable energy and are delighted with the work done by the Energy Office in making certain this was a success.”
UShaka Marine chief executive Stella Khumalo said they were delighted the theme park had been earmarked in piloting the project.
“We view this as a revolutionary accomplishment that will put the park at the head of technology progression planned to reduce the environmental impact of not only this facility, but the metropolis as a whole,” said Khumalo.
The theme park brags the biggest installation of solar PV of a capacity of 165.4MWh annually
The pilot installations are anticipated to save the city 426.75MWh – a saving of US $ 25,498 in the first year.
The world class uShaka Marine World, located in Durban, South Africa, opened its doors to the general public on April 30th 2004. UShaka has rapidly placed itself as a main attraction on Durban’s Golden Mile, providing a world of entertainment, fun ,excitement and exclusivity.