African Supermarket Chain Invests in Renewable Energy
Africa's largest supermarket chain is investing heavily in renewable energy. South African supermarket Shoprite has announced that it wants to power one quarter of its business with renewable energy in the next five years.
Shoprite announced in March that it is working to build wind and solar plants to help it to reach its renewable energy goal. In doing so, the supermarket chain will rely less on Africa's public power grids, which are known to frequently lose power in some countries. In South Africa, where Shoprite has its headquarters, the grid lost power for 859 hours just in 2020.
The supermarket chain already has more than 44,000 square meters of solar panels on top of 21 distribution centers and stores in South Africa and Namibia. Although this might sound like a lot, Shoprite's current setup produces less than 1% of its energy needs. However, Shoprite's Sanjeev Raghubir told CNN that because the company's electricity cost is around $175 million, 1% is still a very large saving.
In February, Shoprite said it had also attached solar panels to 649 of its refrigerator trucks, which produce enough energy to power 1,040 refrigerators for a full year. This allows drivers to switch their trucks off at delivery locations, helping to reduce both noise and air pollution from their engines.
Raghubir says that climate change will impact both the company's business and the areas that surround it, so it makes sense to reduce its own impact on the environment.
