South African billionaire Christo Wiese initiates electricity wheeling at Cape Town

Key points:

• Shoprite Group is pioneering renewable electricity wheeling at its Brackenfell headquarters, making it the third site to adopt this energy solution.
• Excess electricity from Checkers Hyper Brackenfell is purchased by Enpower Trading and sold back to Shoprite for use at its headquarters.
• Shoprite aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, significantly increasing its renewable energy consumption and reducing reliance on the national grid.

Shoprite Holdings, Africa’s largest retailer partly owned by South African billionaire Christo Wiese, is now utilizing renewable electricity wheeling at its headquarters in Brackenfell, Cape Town, making it the third site to adopt this innovative energy solution.

The retailer is among the first businesses to wheel renewable energy through the city’s power grid.

Pioneering renewable energy in Cape Town

Wheeling involves the buying and selling of electricity between private entities, using an existing grid to transport power from the generation site to the end user. This process increases access to affordable renewable energy and helps reduce the strain on the country’s energy supply.

The group explained that excess electricity generated by Checkers Hyper Brackenfell at Fairbridge Mall is purchased by Enpower Trading, a Nersa-licensed electricity trader. Enpower then sells this electricity back to the Shoprite Group for use at the retailer’s adjacent home office campus.

“In 2023, our consumption of renewable energy nearly doubled to 103,234 MWh from 54,138 MWh in the previous year. With renewable electrons now flowing through Cape Town’s energy grid, we are another step closer to our climate goals of being carbon neutral by 2050,” said Sanjeev Raghubir, chief sustainability officer at the Shoprite Group.

Impact on the city and future prospects

Commenting on the impact of electricity wheeling on the city, Beverley van Reenen, the city’s mayoral committee member for energy, stated:

“In the coming years, our reliance on the national grid will be significantly reduced as the energy market steadily grows with the emergence of utility-scale independent power producers and small-scale power generators selling their excess power to the city and other customers through embedded generation and wheeling.”

The group’s initiatives in electricity wheeling began in 2016 with Checkers Newton Park in Gqberha. By 2022, Checkers Sitari and Sitari Village Mall near Somerset West became the first premium supermarket and shopping centre in South Africa to run entirely on renewable energy sourced from wind and solar power.

Shoprite’s ongoing digital transformation

Shoprite Holdings, the continent’s largest retail conglomerate by store count, operates over 3,500 stores and employs more than 150,000 people across Africa. South African billionaire, Christo Wiese, instrumental in Shoprite’s rise to Africa’s largest retailer, holds an 11.5 percent stake in the retailer, equivalent to 68,083,200 ordinary shares, and boasts a net worth of $1.3 billion, making him one of Africa’s richest individuals.

In 2021, the retailer launched ShopRiteX, a digital business hub integrating data science, technology, and innovation to enhance customer experiences. This initiative is part of the strategy to expand its ecosystem of value for consumers and monetize new revenue streams.

Recently, the company expanded its online delivery offerings through its upmarket brand, Checkers, where customers can purchase general merchandise via the Checkers Sixty60 app, South Africa’s leading on-demand grocery delivery service.