SOUTH AFRICA – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) aiming to have a quarter of its electricity needs supplied by renewable energy sources by 2025 is planning to install solar power at 12 of its plants by the end of 2020.

CCBSA initiated the renewable energy project in 2018 as part of its sustainability commitment and strategic objectives, focusing on solar power at its manufacturing plants.

The beverage giant has ramped up its solar power generation capacity, with seven out of its 13 manufacturing facilities, as at the end of August.

“Due to delays as a result of the Corona virus pandemic, a total of only 1 860 MWh of solar energy had been generated by the end of August across all CCBSA plants.”

CCBSA’s Manufacturing and Technical Director – Henry Peek.

The company began rolling out solar photovoltaic panels at its Devland, Heidelberg, Pretoria and Midrand plants.

CCBSA’s Premier plant in KwaZulu-Natal as well the Bloemfontein Tannery plant and Bloemfontein Gutsche plant commissioned their solar systems in 2020.

According to the company, engineering teams are now preparing to complete additional projects at the company’s Phoenix, Lakeside, Wadeville, Polokwane and Elgin sites.

With the installation CCBSA aims to generate up to 18313 MWh per annum, or 11% of the company’s total electricity demand based on 2019 usage, with completion initially scheduled for mid-year 2020.

“Due to delays as a result of the Corona virus pandemic, a total of only 1 860 MWh of solar energy had been generated by the end of August across all CCBSA plants,” says CCBSA’s Manufacturing and Technical Director, Henry Peek.

“While this is behind our initial projections, we are well on our way to reaching (and surpassing) our 2019 total generation of 2 905 MWh, as we have an additional three plants generating solar (up from four in 2019),” he stated.

In order to make better use of the additional capacity, the next phase of the company’s project will be to engage with municipalities to explore power export agreements, so that energy can go back into the national grid to enable its communities to likewise benefit from green energy.

The beverage company is also continuing the roll-out of its 2L returnable Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle into more regions across South Africa.

The extension includes North West, Heidelberg, the southern parts of Mpumalanga, the East Rand and sections of Gauteng (Soweto, Katlehong, Diepsloot, Tembisa, Kagiso and Carltonville, amongst others).

Returnable PET is part of The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste vision, which focuses on the entire packaging value chain from how bottles and cans are designed and made to how they’re collected, recycled and reused later.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE