Operating Hours
Monday - Friday : 0800hrs - 1730hrs
Saturday : 0900hrs - 1530hrs
Sunday and Public holidays : Closed
UI/UX Design and Web Development by 1Pulse Digital
South Africa is known for its infamous power outages, more commonly referred to as load shedding.
The consistent threat of load shedding has led many to seek alternative sources of energy, especially business that rely heavily on electricity to run their businesses. During a stage 6 schedule Made In Workshop was down for 4 to 6 hours a day, along with irregular restoration times resulted in the majority of a working day lost.
Rather than sitting around complaining about the forces out of our control, Made In Workshop decided to find a sustainable solution that we could trust and rely on. That is where the switch to solar power started to take shape, there are many critical factors that we had to consider for an industrial context.
Auditing, logistics, system sizing for the tools and machinery on site and the logistics of installation all had to be determined before our goal could be reached. Made In Workshop had over 9 months of consumption data which helped us determine how much power we have used, which machines used the most power, and the overall costs involved. In conclusion, we replaced old machinery and changed our operating times to reduce our Kwh usage, resulting in a low municipality bill. This change allowed us to eliminate night shifts, further reducing our municipality bills and essentially saving us money.
Through guidance and testing, we were able to calculate the financial return on investing a total of R2 million to our solar-powered system. A large part that contributed in making this system a reality for us today is the engineering of the tools and machines used in Made in Workshop. Through discussions with manufacturers and suppliers, we were able to assess the exact system we required. 140 Solar panels in 14 strings of 10, resulting in an output of 77.7 kW. This system is connected to a 110 KVa inverter and a 40 KVa battery. The inverter is programmed to draw from the solar panels, and the battery covered any spikes that occurred during the day, any excess power is stored in the battery. While still remaining connected to the grid if ever the solar was not enough.
Switching to solar power at this scale is a challenging journey, but with proper auditing, engineering and logistical planning it has become a viable energy source for many companies looking to escape load shedding. Made In Workshop and all its members get the opportunity to keep their businesses moving.
Henry Levine, CEO of Made In Workshop.
