Major Johannesburg shopping centre plans to say goodbye to Eskom

Liberty-owned Sandton City intends to procure renewable energy over the Independent Energy Pool (IEP) to reduce its reliance on the grid and ensure it meets its 2030 net zero target. 

First opened in 1973, Sandton City has steadily grown alongside Nelson Mandela Square into one of Africa’s largest retail complexes.  

The centre also has a twenty-one-story concrete office building that has been reclad in recent years alongside the Atrium building. 

The shopping centre was first developed by Rapp and Maister before being taken over by Liberty Life, now Liberty Holdings, and managed by its property arm, Liberty Two Degrees. 

It first had 120 stores on two levels, with parking for 2,500 cars. Alongside the expansion of office space, the number of stores has grown steadily to over 300. 

After recladding the office building in 2013 and adding a new wing to the mall, Liberty’s focus has shifted to meeting its ambitious Net Zero Carbon 2030 target. 

This has included installing a 1 MW rooftop solar PV system and smart-metering systems to better manage energy consumption. 

On Wednesday, joint owners Liberty and Pareto announced their interest in procuring renewable energy over the Independent Energy Pool (IEP) platform. 

With limited roof space, a rooftop solar installation is not enough to cover the entire energy demand of Sandton City, requiring the wheeling of electricity through Eskom’s grid if the centre is to go completely off-grid. 

The IEP platform is a business-to-business energy pool that allows electricity consumers, generators, and traders to buy and sell electricity to deploy wheeled renewable energy solutions for Sandton City.

While part of the aim to reach net zero by 2030, South African companies are also increasingly turning to wheeling solutions and renewable energy due to investor pressure. 

To remain attractive to foreign investors in particular, companies have to reduce their reliance on Eskom which generated over 80% of its electricity from coal.

Recent data from Nedbank shows that Eskom’s electricity production has fallen to levels last seen in the early 2000s despite a turnaround in its performance. 

This translates into Eskom making up a smaller share of the total power supply in South Africa, with alternative sources of electricity eating into its once-dominant position.

Despite the utility’s improved performance, its total sales declined by 1 TWh year-on-year in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year. 

Nedbank economist Isaac Matshego explained that Eskom’s share is expected to decline further as more private electricity production comes online. 

This will benefit South Africa’s economy by making the electricity supply more resilient and less reliant on the operations of a single entity. 

Matshego also said that alternative sources of electricity have proven to be far cheaper than Eskom’s in most cases. 

It is also vital for companies to produce cleaner energy to supply their operations, as some of the country’s largest trading partners are considering imposing carbon taxes on imports. 

As such, a declining reliance on the utility’s electricity will ultimately be beneficial for South African businesses. 

However, it has pushed Eskom into a difficult position, with it needing to make up for declining sales by hiking its tariffs.

While its revenue for the first quarter rose by 15% compared to the same period last year, its sales volumes were 1 TWh lower. 

This means its increased revenue came largely from higher electricity tariffs charged on consumers.

This article was first published by Daily Investor and is reproduced with permission.