New collaboration secures reliable power for teaching, research and healthcare while paving the way for clean energy integration.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cape Town, South Africa, 30 October 2025 – The University of Cape Town (UCT) and Solarise Africa, together with partners ACES Africa and WEG, have launched the UCT Faculty of Health Sciences Backup Power Project at the Health Sciences Campus in Observatory. Designed to secure uninterrupted power for healthcare, research, and teaching facilities, the project also lays the foundation for integrating renewable energy in future phases.
Phase 1 delivers a 2.4 MVA Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with 4 MWh storage, supported by 1.5 MVA of WEG generators. A centralised PPC/SCADA-based control system ensures seamless operation between battery, generator, and future solar assets. Phase 2, already in design, will add a 171.6 kWp solar PV array, expected to avoid ~230 tonnes of CO₂ annually once operational.
Sakkie van Wijk, Co-Founder and COO of Solarise Africa, said the project reflects the company’s core purpose: “Reliable energy is not a luxury, it’s critical infrastructure. With this partnership, we are safeguarding healthcare, research, and education today, while building towards a sustainable energy future.”
“Ensuring uninterrupted operations and energy resilience across our medical campus is a strategic priority,” said Avi Dhevdath, Acting Director: Programme Management at UCT. “This initiative strengthens the campus’s ability to sustain critical research and teaching activities, guaranteeing operational continuity and supporting UCT’s pursuit of resilience, excellence, and world-class infrastructure”.
The university also recognises the opportunity to align resilience with climate action. “This project delivers both reliability and carbon reduction,” said Manfred Braune, Director of Environmental Sustainability at UCT. “By coupling backup with solar readiness, we reduce emissions while strengthening our resilience, precisely the kind of forward-looking investment UCT must make.”
For EPC partner ACES Africa, the collaboration demonstrates engineering in action. Charl Gous, CEO of ACES Africa, noted: “At ACES, we engineer solutions you can trust. This project is a landmark in delivering resilient energy systems for critical African institutions.”
WEG South Africa, which designed, manufactured and integrated the medium-voltage infrastructure, substations, generators and Energy Management System (EMS), emphasised that resilience and sustainability must go hand in hand. “Our role was to build a robust electrical backbone that meets today’s energy security needs while enabling tomorrow’s renewable integration,” said Eduardo Werninghaus, CEO of WEG Africa.
The collaboration demonstrates a resilience-first design with built-in optionality for renewable expansion, underscoring a shared vision of energy stability, institutional sustainability, and climate-conscious infrastructure.
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About Solarise Africa
Solarise Africa is a pan-African sustainable energy solutions company. Our purpose is to drive Africa’s transition from fossil fuels to a cleaner, more reliable, and cost-effective renewable energy future. By pioneering distributed energy solutions, we enable businesses to overcome the challenges of unstable and expensive grid systems, unlocking economic growth, job creation, and environmental sustainability across the continent.
About ACES Africa
ACES Africa is a leading EPC firm specialising in solar PV, energy storage (BESS), and building-integrated PV (BiPV) solutions across Africa. The company emphasises engineering integrity, durability, and full lifecycle performance.
About WEG
WEG is a global leader in electrical machines, generators, automation and power infrastructure. Known for innovation, efficiency and sustainability, WEG develops solutions that contribute to electrification, clean energy, and reliable systems worldwide.