Sunergise Fiji Limited (SFL) and RB Patel Group Ltd (RBG) today announced the completion of an environmentally friendly solar power installation at RB Patel’s JetPoint supermarket in Martintar, Nadi.
The installation of a 125kW photovoltaic (PV) solar system at RB Patel’s Jet Point supermarket in Nadi makes this the country’s first solar powered supermarket. The solar system, discretely mounted on the roof, is invisible from the ground. Every year, it will quietly generate enough clean/ green power to cater for a significant portion of RB Patel’s daytime power requirement. The project has been developed by local solar power company Sunergise and installed by the region’s leading solar engineering firm, Clay Energy.
Mr Padam Lala, Chairman of RBG said, “We have always been interested in what solar could offer our stores. It had to make commercial sense to us, foremost. With Sunergise’s business model, we found a win-win solution. With no upfront capital cost, our JetPoint store can become greener and save money with every kilowatt of solar power we use.”
“RBG relies heavily on the loyalty of our customers in Fiji, therefore contributing to the healthy future of the country is something we care deeply about. We believe in playing our part as a corporate leader to do right by the beautiful environment that we all enjoy here in Fiji. We have already taken some small but important steps, like encouraging our shoppers to choose reusable non-plastic bags instead of plastic in our stores. All our plastic bags are also degradable. Going solar will help us go much further” Mr Lala added.
Mr Ajay Raniga, director of SFL added; “Installing this system was a great opportunity to complete a project we were very excited about. Supermarkets are places that most of us visit every week. But we don’t often think about where the electricity comes from that keeps our chicken or ice cream frozen. RB Patel saw immediately the value of Sunergise’s mission – to bring clean energy to the people of the Pacific – and asked us ‘how much green energy can you give us?’ We have worked closely with them to meet this challenge and deliver a top-quality solar system that will allow them to enjoy clean power all day long. It brings new meaning to the term ‘greengrocer’! Plus they can watch their savings grow monthly over many years.”
Mr Raniga added: “As the sun doesn’t shine all of the time, our system is connected to the FEA power grid to ensure that power supply is not interrupted. At night, the system’s technology switches fully to the FEA power grid.. If you were inside the store, you wouldn’t notice a thing when the change happens. We work closely with FEA to make sure everything works smoothly, and they have been very supportive. By the end of October, we will have completed 5 other large projects in Fiji like this one. Solar power is really the future.”
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