Fairview, a renowned wine and cheese farm in the Cape Winelands, has expanded its commitment to sustainability with a cutting-edge solar installation at its cheesery. This new hybrid system seamlessly integrates with Fairview’s existing grid-tied solar infrastructure, enhancing both energy security and efficiency.

The installation includes 1 656 ground-mounted 600W solar panels, along with a double-storey containerised solution comprising 96 batteries with a total storage capacity of 1.37MWh, and two 500kW hybrid inverters. On sunny days, the new system enables Fairview to operate entirely independently of the municipal energy supply from 6:00 to 21:00.

The MV network features a 200kVA step-up transformer, three 50kVA step-down transformers, and one 25kVA step-down transformer. The network further provides electricity to the water pump system, the water treatment plant and the worker houses. This ensures that water gets treated during grid outages, keeping contaminated water from being released.

Together, these components provide greater energy resilience, ensuring reliable operations even during grid outages. When the system generates more energy than Fairview consumes, it can also export the excess back to the grid—making it not only a sustainability effort but also a smart energy investment.

This project marks another milestone in 2Zero50’s mission to drive renewable energy innovation in the agricultural sector.