Rocklands school’s solar energy revenue pays it forward

Rocklands Primary School is the first school in the country to have a revenue model to self sustain the installation of a solar energy system and to pay it forward to another school.

Principal Keith Scheepers said he was proud of this achievement but worried that criminals may vandalise and steal the infrastructure.

He appealed to the community to keep an eye on the school and report any suspicious criminal activity.

He said that they had been discussing installation with TFE Energy’s Africa director Dr Sam Duby for more than two years.

The school has solar panels installed, inverters and massive batteries to have its energy supply run smoothly.

“Yes, there was the national Covid-19 lockdown but we also had to cut through a lot of red tape to access this energy supply,” he said.

Mr Scheepers said material prices sky rocketed when load shedding was at its peak and that it was in short supply.

“Absolutely everything is dependent on electricity and now that we are no longer dependent on Eskom we can have our lights on, the photocopy machine working and computers running when it is necessary for us to teach and engage with our learners,” he said.

Dr Duby said they had had a long-standing relationship with Schools Environmental Education and Development (SEED), based at Rocklands Urban Abundance Centre, at the Rocklands school.

“This is the first school in the country with this revenue model to make it self sustaining, paying for its own maintenance and paying it forward,” he said.

He said that the smart school tariff was 20% cheaper than the Eskom rate, which covered the cost of installation and equipment, maintenance and administration.

Dr Duby said the profits would be split into improvement projects at the school and then also to contribute to the installation of a solar energy system at another school.

This was TFE Energy’s Africa’s first project in South Africa, which they would like to roll out to other schools but say they are limited by legislation.

SEED director Leigh Brown said it was all made possible by SAB Foundation, who contribute to the social empowerment of historically disadvantaged people.

"They had the foresight to support innovative renewable energy projects that have a focus on community transformation," she said.

Millicent Merton, spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said they were committed to doing all they could to support our schools to reduce their energy consumption and reduce costs in the process.

“Rocklands Primary is the first school that we have on record from the Cape Flats that applied for permission to install solar,” she said.

She could not confirm whether the school was completely off the grid and whether it was the first school to incentivise and the first revenue model to make it self sustaining in the province.