This initiative falls under the City’s wheeling pilot project. The JSE-listed, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is among the first to begin wheeling energy onto the municipal grid, with its current offtaker being a commercial office block on the Foreshore, where Equites is headquartered.

The Equites head office will now be receiving almost 100% of its daytime energy requirements from a renewable source. It will also be able to facilitate the supply of green energy to other tenants.

This project has allowed Equites to take a further leap into the renewable energy space with significant opportunities for growth.

Andrea Taverna-Turisan, CEO of Equites Property Fund, commented: “We are committed as a business to implementing climate risk mitigation initiatives and to being a sustainable organisation. With that, we identified an opportunity to become part of the transformation of the energy landscape—and we’re pleased to see that come to fruition through this renewable energy project.”

Irshaad Wadvalla, ESG Officer at Equites, added: “The first flow of energy from the Equites property to the city centre building under this wheeling project marks the culmination of almost two years of ongoing engagements, significant learnings and incredible support from our Executives and the entire Equites team. This is, however, only the start, as we have significant potential to increase our generation capacity and provide green energy to other businesses.”

Equites now equips other businesses to use renewable energy

Increasingly, businesses are under pressure to take control of their energy consumption, clamp down on their CO2 emissions and reduce costs. As a feature of its wheeling capabilities, Equites is able to supply renewable energy to companies that do not occupy energy efficient buildings or have the necessary infrastructure installed.

Wadvalla explains: “In practice, this involves Equites feeding energy into the grid which is allocated to the offtaker under a wheeling arrangement, and the energy is paid for at a reduced tariff through a Power Purchase Agreement. Our goal is to use existing infrastructure and our expertise to supply other businesses across South Africa with renewable energy without them requiring capital expenditure and, with that, to alleviate demand on the grid and to reduce carbon emissions.”

Equites values sustainability as a central component of its business and has an ESG framework aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The REIT proactively identifies opportunities, like this one, to make a meaningful contribution to its stakeholders, the locations in which it operates and the broader South African community.