Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed property developer, Prime Time, is starting to reap benefits from the installation of a solar PV system at its Sebele Shopping Mall in the capital Gaborone.
“The system is providing us with a tangible economic return while reducing our reliance on grid supplied electricity by over 110,000 KWh per month in its first six months of operation,” said Prime Time Chairman Paul Masie, sharing the company’s operations update on Wednesday.
The initiative is part of Prime Time’s appetite for renewable energy, dovetailing with the country’s plans to be a net exporter of electricity, through implementation of projects under the Integrated Resource Plan, targeting to raise the contribution of renewable energy to power generation from a paltry one percent to 30 percent by 2030.
Masie said the solar panels have propped up the company’s sustainability efforts through being a source of clean and reliable energy for tenants.
“We plan to roll out further solar installations in Botswana with feasibility assessments already undertaken on several of our other properties,” he said.
Masie highlighted that demand for space at the company’s other property – Motswere, the first phase of the Prime Plaza II extension in the Gaborone CBD, has been exceptionally strong, justifying the decision to invest heavily in what will be the greenest commercial development in Botswana.
“The interest is from both local and international occupiers with excellent covenant strengths,” he said.
Masie said the company will introduce green leases at the new development, a FiveStar Green rated building, for the first time in Botswana, which will enable the company to work in partnership with tenants to deliver demonstrable consumption efficiencies at the property.
“We are also embarking on a program of retrospectively obtaining green accreditations on older buildings in the portfolio. Given our history of delivering projects that are designed to be cognisant with the environment and climate in which they are located, many of our buildings are well positioned to achieve this,” he said.
“Once ratings are in place, the group will be well positioned to access many of the green funding options that we are starting to see coming to the market,” Masie said. Enditem
