Midstream Estate, a sought-after Midrand residential estate, intends to build a massive battery bank to store electricity from solar plants, Eskom, and, if necessary, a bank of generators to safeguard residents from load-shedding.
At a special Energy Indaba on February 7, 2023, Midstream locals reviewed the proposal to avoid load shedding stages 1–4.
The locals overwhelmingly supported the ambitious R200 million proposal, which the developers want to implement by August 2023.
Jan Zeederberg, a founder and director of Bondev, the developer of Midstream estate, presented the proposal.
Midstream is distinct in that it features a smart grid connected to an 11/88kV Eskom substation, as well as metering and control technology with fibre optic connection to all dwellings.
“Everything that falls within Midstream is one grid, managed by Midstream Electrical Supplies (MES),” Zeederberg explained.
It implies that Midstream can operate a single grid, providing it the flexibility needed to handle load-shedding.
Zeederberg noted that the concept began five years ago to investigate how solar electricity may be used to replenish energy on the Midstream grid.
He further stated that at Midstream Estate, 80% of the measures required to use solar electricity to avoid load shedding are already in place.
The next step is to build an 8MVA battery storage system to protect residents against load-shedding up to stage 4.
The large battery bank will receive energy from solar plants, supplemented during non-load-shedding times by Eskom and, if required, by a bank of generators.
Zeederberg said they have already received interest from people who want to develop solar farms in Midstream.
“Land will be made available to them. They will be connected to the grid, and we will have full redundancy for our electricity supply.”
“We will sync with Eskom’s grid before load-shedding kicks in. It will be seamless – you won’t even know it happened,” he said. “Once the supply from Eskom falls away, the battery system will take over.”
The existing MES load management system may also be extended to high-consumption residences in order to turn off high-power demand gadgets during load-shedding.
Within six months, the immediate goal is to build a stable, sustainable, and cost-effective energy supply network that will prevent load-shedding up to stage four.
This network will be expanded in the future to defend against larger load-shedding levels, and the estate will thereafter be totally disconnected from the grid.
“Delivery of the planned battery bank can take place within 16 weeks of order meaning that the project can be in place in 4 to 6 months,” Zeederberg said.
Residents who opt up for load-shedding protection will only be charged based on their usage during load-shedding.
The additional payments made during load-shedding will cover the costs of financing the purchase of batteries, generators, and solar energy harvesting.
It will also fund other associated expenditures in accordance with Eskom’s standard in their major energy wheeling agreements.
MES’s bidirectional metres will also monitor power sent into the grid and charge the battery bank. These homes will be reimbursed appropriately.
Over a thousand properties in Midstream Estate already have roof-top solar panels that are connected to the electricity grid.
