The Foschini Group has invested in Tesla Powerwalls to try to mitigate the impact of Loadshedding to their stores.
South Africa (02 October 2022) – Stores like Foschini, Markham, Sportscene, American Swiss and @Home will no longer be left in the dark when Loadshedding hits as the Foschini Group (TFG) group has started investing in Tesla Powerwalls.
Loadshedding has been a reality in South Africa for over 15 years, with 2022 being one of the worst years of power outages. The country has seen 115 days of loadshedding this year alone. The TFG group, which has a portfolio of 33 leading retail brands, has turned to the Powerwalls to keep the lights on throughout daily operations, minimizing load-shedding effects on its businesses.
“In many cases, after experiencing loadshedding, it can take some time for our systems to fully recover, and having uninterrupted power to our stores assists with that too,” the company said.
The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery energy storage product manufactured by Tesla Energy.
“Powerwall is a battery that stores energy, detects outages and automatically becomes your home or business’ energy source when the grid goes down. Unlike generators, Powerwall keeps your lights on and phones charged without upkeep, fuel or noise. Pair with solar and recharge with sunlight to keep your appliances running for days.” – Tesla Powerwall
The South African retailer ordered 227 Tesla Powerwalls in late July 2022 and another 80 Powerwall battery storage units about a month later.
“Teslarati” reported that the first batch of Powerwalls were distributed among 130 of the retail group’s most profitable outlets, and the second batch was installed at 43 other outlets. TFG plans to install more Tesla Powerwalls – or other battery systems – at other branches.
Yes, Loadshedding is impacting South Africa’s economy, our mental health and the general sentiment of the country, but the good thing here is that individuals and businesses are thinking out of the box, getting off the grid and going a little greener, which not only protects them, and the environment but eases the grid for everyone else too.
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