A landmark renewable-energy partnership between licensed energy trader Discovery Green, its joint venture partner Sasol and South African National Parks (SANParks) will enable the Kruger National Park to source about 25% of its electricity needs from renewable energy, marking a significant step towards decarbonising the national park as it celebrates its centenary year.

The partnership, facilitated through Discovery Green and Sasol's joint renewable energy wheeling product, Ampli Energy, was announced at the Kruger National Park, in Skukuza, Mpumalanga, on October 7, with the initiative focused on positioning the park for sustainable operations in the future.

Noting the importance of the partnership, Discovery Green CEO Andre Nepgen said it also supported SANParks’ mission to conserve, expand and sustainably manage South Africa’s natural and cultural assets for current and future generations.

“Through Ampli Energy, Discovery Green and Sasol have been able to take 25% of the energy of the Kruger National Park in Skukuza and turn that green.

“By integrating renewable energy into park operations, [the] Kruger National Park strengthens its ability to combine exceptional visitor experiences with responsible environmental management,” he said.

Discovery Green parent company Discovery co-founder Barry Swartzberg said the partnership reflected a shift from organisations relying solely on renewable-energy infrastructure at their own sites to sourcing renewable energy generated elsewhere in the country.

Discovery had found that even substantial investments in its own solar installations accounted for only about 3% of its total electricity demand, highlighting the limitations of an entirely on-site approach.

“The other way of getting green energy is to develop something outside of your environment. Someone else develops it – a solar park, wind park – and then you connect [that] to the grid,” Swartzberg added.

He said the model depended on matching renewable energy supplied to the grid with demand elsewhere, thereby creating opportunities for organisations with different electricity generation and consumption profiles to work together.

Discovery Green and Sasol subsequently developed a mechanism through Ampli Energy to connect renewable-energy generation with customers seeking to reduce their electricity-related emissions.

Sasol business building, strategy and technology executive VP Dr Sarushen Pillay highlighted that the partnership was rooted in a broader effort to address South Africa’s energy challenges.

He recalled an initial meeting with the Discovery Green team at the height of loadshedding, after which Sasol sought ways of working with the company on this initiative.

“This is really a partnership of patriots coming together to do the right thing for the country,” said Pillay.

The partnership therefore creates a mechanism through which renewable energy generated elsewhere can be matched with demand from organisations such as SANParks.

SANParks CEO Hapiloe Sello said the Kruger National Park renewables partnership was particularly significant given the scale of the organisation’s conservation mandate and the financial challenges associated with transitioning its operations to renewable energy.

SANParks manages 21 national parks covering about four-million hectares, with the Kruger National Park accounting for a substantial proportion of the organisation’s electricity consumption.

“Kruger National Park is not only South Africa’s premier tourism destination, but also a cornerstone of conservation in our country and across the SANParks system.

“By securing renewable energy equal to more than 25% of the park’s yearly electricity consumption, we are strengthening the park’s long-term sustainability, improving energy resilience and demonstrating how conservation institutions can contribute meaningfully to a lower-carbon future,” Sello said.

She noted that, for several years, SANParks had been seeking ways to begin transitioning its operations to green energy, but the cost of such a transition presented a significant challenge.

The Ampli Energy partnership therefore provides an opportunity to begin that transition without requiring the park to immediately undertake the full capital investment associated with developing renewable-energy infrastructure on site.

Sello also described the initiative as a pioneering example of a conservation organisation using wheeling to transition towards renewable energy.

If successful, the pilot could be scaled up, with SANParks hoping to increase the amount of renewable energy supplied to the Kruger National Park and eventually extend the approach to other national parks.

The initiative comes as the Kruger National Park marks its centenary, with the park having been proclaimed in 1926. The centenary provides an opportunity for SANParks to link the park’s next century of conservation with a more sustainable operating model, Sello concluded.