The Johannesburg office of Scan Display has decreased its reliance on South Africa’s electrical grid by installing a Smart Grid solar system. This follows a conscious plan by the company to enhance its environmental responsibility and live up to the ‘green’ standards it has set for itself.
A Smart Grid solar panel system has been set up on the roof of Scan Display’s offices in Johannesburg and is set to supply the company with 40-50% of its daily electricity needs.
“The 5kw system is being closely monitored but has so far generated around 24kw of electricity per day,” explains James Stride, director of SolarSol, the company responsible for the installation.
“With a further set of 36kw batteries installed alongside the system, there is no possibility of the business being without electricity.”
The installation followed an intensive study into the cost of lost productivity at the office during load shedding outages, adds Stride. The monthly electrical bill of the office is expected to halve, while there is no longer a need for a generator or for staff to halt work due to lack of electricity.
“We have been looking for a managed solution for our Joburg offices for some time now, a compromise between supplied electricity and that generated by our own solar panels,” adds Justin Hawes, 
managing director of Scan Display. “We wanted a compromise between the two that would ensure we could be more sustainable, while guaranteeing productivity during business hours.”
Hawes is a founding member and the Chairman of the Event Greening Forum, a non-profit organisation formed to promote sustainability in the local events industry. Scan Display has always been an advocate for environmentally responsible solutions in its operations, with a solar panel system first being installed at its Cape Town office in 2011. The panels at the Cape Town office were re-used by Scan Display following their usage at COP17.
Plans for a solar system at the Scan Display warehouse in Selby are now being investigated.
