SA’s largest packaged goods company, Tiger Brands, announced on Wednesday that it was beginning the rollout of solar power at 35 of its manufacturing sites as part of its strategy to reduce its dependence on an unreliable power supply from Eskom.
This comes as the owner of Koo, Oros and Crosse & Blackwell looks to reduce its energy usage from the power grid by 30% by 2030. This is part of its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, with a target of net zero emissions by 2050.
The multimillion-rand investment into solar looks to power 65% of the business’s electricity requirements at a manufacturing level across SA with on-site solar power, and other renewable energy installations set to begin at four sites before rolling out to the remaining 31 manufacturing plants.
The Henneman Mill plant in the Free State, King Foods in North West, as well as beverages and home and personal care manufacturing plants in Gauteng will be the first in line to have green-power sources installed.
Projected to go online between the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, the sites will be able to generate 2MW of power to provide at least a third of their power usage.
The R29bn food manufacturing giant said this would be done through the procurement of power purchase agreements from Independent Power Producers, while it also explores biogas, wind, batteries and hydrogen sources.
“Harnessing the power of natural energy sources is first and foremost about minimising our impact on the environment and doing our part to reduce reliance and strain on the national grid so that more South Africans have access to the resource,” Tiger Brands chief manufacturing officer Derek McKernan said.
“This is not a one-size-fits-all solution that we are introducing. We want to ensure that we assess the requirements of each site individually and implement initiatives and innovations that best suit each site while removing all forms of power wastage,” said McKernan.
In line with the business’s aim to reduce its energy usage by 30% by 2030, Tiger said it had introduced several initiatives to reduce energy intensity at its manufacturing sites to maximise efficiency efforts, including detailed site investigations to identify water and energy reduction opportunities, as well as ensuring accurate measurement and metering at the sites.
Meanwhile, developments around the finalisation of the sale of its fruit canning factory in the Cape winelands are still murky.
Tiger Brands extended its operations at its loss-making Langeberg & Ashton Foods until May 2023 as it considers purchase offers for the business, throwing a lifeline to as many as 4,000 workers and dozens of farmers in the area.
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