PJ Viljoen Boerdery, a producer of wine grapes and prunes, now runs its entire farming operation — including the packhouse and cool room — on solar power throughout the day.

The system features a 500 kW hybrid inverter, 285.48 kWp of solar (468 roof-mounted panels on a purpose-built shed), and 645.12 kWh of battery storage across 45 batteries. This setup ensures the farm is fully powered by solar energy from sunrise to sunset, with battery support during cloudy periods. Grid power is only used for eight hours each night, between 10 pm and 6 am, when energy tariffs are at their lowest.

To further reduce fixed electricity costs, 2Zero50 will close 7 of the farm’s 8 Eskom connection points, leaving only one active. This will reduce the farm’s grid capacity from 425 kVA to 100 kVA. Combined with reduced reliance on peak-hour grid power, this change is expected to deliver significant long-term savings.

This project demonstrates how a well-designed solar and storage system can achieve near-complete energy independence while lowering both variable and fixed electricity costs for high-demand agricultural operations.