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sustainable construction world
4
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
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
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.
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.
Matthew Turner, business development
manager for commercial and industrial
PV at juwi Renewable Energies.