Orion, an organisation that has provided therapeutic care and services to around 180 people with disabilities over the last 40 years, has gone green.
Having experienced load shedding since the early 2000s, it has made many adaptations in these times to accommodate its beneficiaries, using innovative ideas, CEO Gerrit Mattyse pointed out. Some of these have been the installation of solar lights, gas stoves and solar geysers.
“Seventy-seven solar panels were installed on the roof of the protective work centre that provides 33 kW of energy recently,” Mattyse said.
“This energy is converted into electricity that supplies all six homes, the day care centres, protective work centres and support buildings.”
Ernie Solar, the supplier and installer took one week to install the project from start to finish, and a computerised system is also available for monitoring and evaluation purposes. The system can be accessed by management of Orion remotely and the amount of generation can be viewed at any given time.
Mattyse explained: “The system is a grid tied system and therefore, by law, needs to go off when there is grid failure, such as load shedding during the day and evening. All grid-tied solar system installations work on the same principle.”
To avoid load shedding completely, such a system will require a battery back-up system that can store energy that can be used during load shedding periods.
Going green has its benefits, where Orion is less dependent on electricity supply, meaning the organisation’s electricity bill is dramatically reduced. “An excess amount of electricity generated by our solar system can be pumped back into the national grid and Orion can build up credits during the supply, especially during the hot summers of Cape Town,” Mattyse says.
