The Foschini Group, which includes Foschini, @home, Jet and many others, has bought 307 Tesla Powerwalls to combat loadshedding. The first batch of Powerwalls were ordered in July 2022, which included 227 Tesla Powerwalls which will be distributed to 130 of its most profitable retail locations. The other 80 Powerwalls were purchased in August and will go to an additional 68 locations.
Read: Rain formally proposes take-over deal to Telkom
“In many cases, after experiencing load-shedding, 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 first 43 stores have received and installed their Tesla Powerwalls, with the other locations now fast tracking the installation process. This massive purchase has made TFG the largest customer of Tesla’s Powerwalls. It will keep the lights on in these locations during loadshedding, and also power the POS devices that take payments.
Tesla’s Powerwall has seen substantial demand in South Africa since first being brought to the country by Rubicon Renewables in 2016. The all-in-one backup power system consists of a large lithium-ion battery pack and inverter in water and dust-resistant casing that can be fitted indoors or outdoors, with wall and floor mounting supported. Users can charge the unit with electricity from the grid or solar panels. The second-generation Powerwall provides a storage capacity of 13.5kWh, peak output capacity of 7kW, and continuous output capability of 5kW. That makes it suitable for providing large homes and small businesses with power for several hours.
Until recently, the Powerwall was priced at R170,300 per unit in South Africa. It is unclear what this order cost The Foschini Group, as the Rand has seen a bad run against the dollar and the price could therefore be closer to the R200,000 mark.
“Once we secure the rate for the next containers, we will fix the price,” Rubicon said in a statement.
