- Retail property owner, Resilient, has announced that it will aggressively reduce reliance on Eskom and municipal services in South Africa plus remain leaders in all aspects of green energy.
- The company cites a decline of local authorities and infrastructure, the cost and reliability of electricity and water supply plus the impact of loadshedding as some of its major challenges.
To overcome these challenges they will continue with the integration of solar, battery, municipal power and back-up generators at their malls. They have invested R564 million to date with a further R463 million included in capital commitments for this cause.
Currently they have 45,8MWp* (20,4% of Resilient’s total consumption) of installed solar PV capacity and by December 2023 will have 59,3MWp* which represents 27,7% of Resilient’s total projected consumption. A further 24,8MWp* of solar installations currently planned for 2024 which will increasing capacity to 38,4% Resilient’s total projected consumption.
The company cites challenges with local authorities regarding the approval of solar PV installations which is slowing solar PV rollout. “Local authorities have been slow in implementing the amended regulations relating to solar installations which now allow self-power generation of up to 100MW without a generation license. Tshwane Municipality continues to delay approvals affecting the planned additional installations at Mams Mall, The Grove Mall and Soshanguve Crossing,” the company said.
Resilient has been listed on the JSE since 6 December 2002 and is a retail-focused Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”). Its strategy is to invest in dominant retail centres with a minimum of three anchor tenants and let predominantly to national retailers. Valued at over R15 billion on the JSE, has a property portfolio in South Africa concurrently consisting of 27 retail centres. It also has property interests in Nigeria and France.
Resilient said on Tuesday its distributable earnings fell about 16% to R681 million in the six months to end-June, hit by a lower contribution from UK mall owner Hammerson. Link to their interim results presentation for the six months ended 30 June 2023 HERE.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
