Bryanston Country Club goes green
BRYANSTON – After five years of planning and just over six weeks of construction, the installation has finally been commissioned.
Bryanston Country Club has taken a greener step in the right direction.
Five years in the making, the club’s solar panel installation was finally put to the test. According to general manager Paul Leishman, the club looks forward to seeing how much energy it can save in the long run, reducing its dependency on the national electrical grid.
“Solar has grown in popularity and need and we have really been keen on it as well because using renewable energy is a big part of where we want to go as a country club,” he said.
This is also why the project took such a long time to break ground, said Leishman. “It is quite a massive project so it was important for us to do this properly, get the numbers and the plans right from the very beginning.”
After breaking ground, the solar panels could not be fully commissioned on account of the tropical storm. “It only really kicked in this week [beginning 8 February] but so far, the prospects look promising. Many of our members are quite impressed by the installation, the aesthetics and the future savings that will happen,” noted Leishman.
He added that although it may take the club between four to five years to pay off the cost of the solar project, the installation has already proven to be fruitful from day one. In the long run, it will help reduce the country club’s utility bill.
“Once the installation is up and running and it’s been fully commissioned, we will pretty much be off-grid during the day. So, during daylight hours we will not draw any Eskom power and then, over time, as the battery technology improves, we will be able to add in the batteries.”
He concluded, “Everyone has seen the benefits of renewable energy even though it took a bit of time to get it off the ground. I think that you are going to see it increase.”
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https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/279605/caddies-are-taken-care-of-at-bryanston-country-club/
