Market intelligence
The food value chain was has been identified as a key focus area for significant impact, in part due to it being the largest manufacturing sector in the Western Cape. Energy was highlighted as key driver of greenhouse gas emissions for agricultural commodities such as fruit, wine and grain.
- Industry brief: Solar PV for pack houses
- Technical report: Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on packhouses
Opportunities: Fast facts
Solar PV installations on packhouses are worth considering and several companies have already been able to implement them profitably.
Financing is key to unlocking the full potential of solar PV on packhouses.
The opportunity for financing solutions is currently being unlocked by innovative performance-based contracts to help overcome capital cost constraints, with Energy Service Companies (ESCos) playing a significant role in this space.
There is opportunity for industrial-scale solar heating in agri-processing – a key expanding sector in South Africa.
- Uptake has been demonstrated regionally and nationally: the majority of the Western Cape’s industrial-scale solar heating systems are in the agri-processing sector and are reporting good payback periods through energy cost savings.
GreenCape’s work in the space
GreenCape aims to enable the uptake of green technologies and support the growth of the clean technology industry (supply side) through targeted promotion in the agriculture and agri-processing sectors (demand side). This has been driven through the Resource Productivity Project (2015-16).
Our work has focused on the following:
Solar PV on packhouses (report & industry brief)
Solar thermal in agri-processing (report)
Biogas from organic residues and wastes
