Construction World October 2015

Renewable energy

MAKING GOOD cents As the worldwide shift to Renewable Energy (RE) sources continues to gain momentum, South Africa is entering an era in which electricity generated by distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) plants often costs businesses and consumers less than their traditional grid-supplied electricity.

Matthew Turner, business development manager for commercial and industrial PV at juwi Renewable Energies.

be on lowering the life-time cost of the asset rather than looking at the upfront build costs in isolation. Electrical wiring is a good example of this; it is common knowledge that by spending a small additional amount upfront to incorporate thicker copper wire in a new building’s electrical reticulation will decrease resistive losses, which can significantly lower electricity costs over time. Yet builders often overlook lifetime savings in order to focus on lower upfront costs. “At juwi, one of our core business focuses is rooftop PV plants and we advise clients to size a PV plant according to the amount of energy required, since municipalities typically

Because of the modular nature of PV plants, solar panels can conveniently be integrated into architecture, design and construction at various levels depending on budget, brief and the project. Even if the original budget doesn’t allow for PV, it is advised to plan for it’s inclusion as it can easily be added at a later date. According to Matthew Turner, business development manager for commercial & industrial PV at juwi Renewable Energies, there are significant savings to be made by incorporating RE into new builds or into existing buildings. But RE isn’t the only intervention that business owners should be considering, with energy efficiency (EE) interventions also providing real savings. Combining energy efficient equipment with RE generation further improves the business case. “If construction is on a completely new building, whether domestic, commercial or industrial, it definitely makes sense to plan the integration of RE solutions and EE initiatives from the outset,” said Turner. “For existing buildings, retrofitting properly engineered RE and EE solutions will also make sense in almost all cases.” Attention to heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) and lighting can reduce the amount of energy required for the running of the building. If these are optimized, the long term cost of owning and operating the building will be substantially reduced. Lowering life-time cost According to Turner, “The key focus should

About the juwi Group and juwi Renewable Energies

The juwi Group is one of the world’s leading specialists for renewable energies with a strong presence in sixteen countries. The company was founded in 1996 by Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung in German Rhineland- Palatinate. Today, juwi employs more than 1 700 people and had an annual turnover of more than a billion Euro in 2011. To date, juwi has constructed around 540 wind turbines with an output of around 920 megawatts; and, in the solar sector, more than 1 500 solar power plants with a total output of around 950 megawatts. juwi Renewable Energies has taken part in the bidding rounds that were requested by the South African government for renewable energy power generation. It was already successful as an Engineering-Procurement- Construction contractor as juwi is amongst the so called preferred bidders and will be installing four solar parks in cooperation with other project developers. Altogether the company will install a total of almost 35 megawatt. The construction of the first solar plants are going to start by the mid of this year. juwi also plans to participate in the bidding rounds to come – not only in the field of solar energy but also in the field of wind energy. The company’s vision is a 100% supply of electricity using renewable energies.

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