Emira’s renewable energy projects bearing fruit
Emira Property Fund, which owns a diversified property portfolio in SA and the US, is reaping rewards for its investments in renewable energy, which began in 2015 with its first solar photovoltaic (PV) farm installation.
Its solar farms, which position the company to feed power back into the grid, increased its renewable energy production by 16%, thus increasing capacity to 267 kilowatt peak (kWp) during the 2022 financial year.
To date, its nine properties with about 24,000 solar panels produce more than 9,000kWp.
Its Wonderpark Shopping Centre in Pretoria North, the fund’s largest asset, has the biggest PV system with nearly 10,000 solar panels installed on the mall roof. The total peak power of the plant is 4.4MW, and produces 150,000 kilowatt hours a month on average.
“We have seen a steady decline in our grid electricity reliance partially due to the increase in renewable energy usage in our portfolio,” Emira COO Ulana van Biljon said. For the half-year results ended-December, Emira said with increased load-shedding, there had been an increase in diesel usage to power generators in the past five years.
During the reporting period, diesel usage rose from 12.2% to 13.9% compared to 1.7% for the 2022 financial year. On average, Emira recovered 80% of diesel costs from tenants across its portfolio.
Emira owns a mix of 97 directly held retail, office, industrial and residential assets, as well as investments in Transcend Property Fund in SA. Close to one-fifth of its asset base comprises investments in 12 grocery-anchored shopping centres in the US, providing a buffer against global economic uncertainty and poor economic growth in SA.
With regard to climate change — the long-term shifts in weather patterns and temperatures — property owners are focused on developing green or environmentally friendly buildings to reduce the negative effects of climate change.
The real estate and construction industry is the biggest contributor to global warming, accounting for 40% of all global carbon emissions. Many real estate owners are turning to green buildings, which can help address and reduce the effects of climate change, improve the health and wellbeing of occupants, and help owners lower building operational costs.
Emira is using solar power to support a green power supply to its buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. The fund’s solar PV installation at its premium office building and headquarters, Knightsbridge Block A in Bryanston, was one of the first net-zero carbon buildings in SA. Net zero refers to buildings with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Knightsbridge was also the first of 31 buildings in the Emira portfolio to become fully compliant with the new government-mandated energy performance certificate (EPC) regulations ahead of the December 7, 2022 deadline.
During the six months to end-December, the nine PV farms saved 5,029MWh annually. The group reduced its total emissions by 3.8% during the 2022 financial year.
Van Biljon said during the first half of 2023, the group spent R25.8m on 47 energy projects, mainly PV installations and various upgrades and replacements of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and LED light-emitting diode (LED) lighting across the portfolio. Of this amount, R19.7m went towards the installation of PV for phase three at Wonderpark Shopping Centre completed in March.
“For the 2023 financial year, we will continue with the implementation of energy projects aimed at reducing consumption and carbon emissions within our portfolio,” Van Biljon said.
Wonderpark Shopping Centre began its three-phase solar farm in 2019, with a capital investment of R30m or about R10m for each farm, Emira asset manager Adriaan Gronum said.
The first phase in 2019 was a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Energy Partners, Gronum said. The second and third phases in 2022 and 2023 are 100% owned by Emira.
The 9,500 panels supplement about 30% of the shopping centre power.
Gronum said the mall had two water tanks of 50,000l used for rain harvesting, two boreholes and a purification system.
Across the group, Emira has invested in water efficient systems and has achieved saving of 49,886 kilo litres savings from rainwater and groundwater harvesting projects which equate to 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools of 2,500 kilo litres each.