Powering Sandton Glen: A Fox Solar Powered Estate Success
Oct 12,2025 
Sandton Glen is a 40-unit residential estate in Sandton. It recently became a Fox solar powered estate after installing a solar system supplied by MSPD Africa and installed by SolaFi. Like many South African communities, residents faced frequent power outages, rising electricity costs, and limited space for solar panels.
The estate’s electricity use peaks in the mornings and evenings. This pattern is mainly due to geyser usage, which puts a heavy load on the grid. Therefore, the system needed to handle these peak demands and provide backup during load shedding.
Designing a Fox Solar Powered Estate System to Meet Real Needs
Kirk and his team at SolaFi carefully analyzed the estate’s energy use. At first, they planned a 150 to 200 kilowatt inverter system with about 200 kilowatt-hours of battery storage. This setup would meet peak demand and provide backup power.
However, the estate’s budget could not cover such a large system. To solve this, the team worked with Ember, a company offering software that manages geyser loads. This software shifted about half of the geyser energy use to daylight hours, when solar power is available.
Thanks to this change, the team reduced the inverter size from 200kW to 90kW. They also cut battery storage from 200kWh to 120kWh. This smaller system met the estate’s needs and fit the budget.
Results from the Estate Installation
Eight months after installation, Sandton Glen now gets about 60% of its electricity from solar power. Residents have seen their electricity bills drop by roughly 60%. The battery backup prevented 62 unplanned outages, greatly improving power reliability.
Overall, this project shows how a well-designed solar system can lower costs and improve energy stability for estates with typical South African electricity use.
Let’s GO Fox!
Apr 10, 2026
