South African Auto Dealer Goes Fully Solar

Construction started in January 2012 and is now pretty much finished so the 3620m2 flagship business will open on February 19 2013.

Electrical power will come from 288 rooftop solar panels, a daily maximum of 69kW that's enough to power 22 households.

The generated energy will be split between three converters to provide three-phase electricity at 50 Hertz and 240 Volts. Excess power will be stored in three banks of batteries as a reserve supply.

Filtration system

Low-wattage fluorescent lamps will be used in most parts of the building and occupancy sensors will cut power to areas with no human movement.

A water filtration system will store up to 10 000 litres of rain for use throughout the building; car-wash water will be pumped back into the filtration system for re-use.

David Sieff, Kia SA's national marketing manager, said: “The Kia brand has shifted to the next level. Not only do we offer people a competitive value proposition with our re-designed and re-engineered products but ventures such as our solar dealership give us a platform to become industry leaders."