When Meadowdale was hit by prolonged outages this past month, many businesses had to make use of expensive alternative power sources like diesel generators, one of the business owners spent close to R60 000 on fuel during the eight days of the outage to keep the power on. Others had no choice but to shut their doors.
Bigfisch Projects, felt the impact too, with our offices are in Meadowdale, not because our operations stopped, as we have solar installed on our property, but because of the impact in our community, partners, and clients that were left without electricity for days,
This wasn’t load shedding. It was an unexpected crisis caused by a veld fire on the 23rd of August and damaged infrastructure.
It highlights something we’ve long known, in South Africa, outages come from more than just Eskom’s schedules. They’re unpredictable, disruptive, and increasingly costly.
Too often, businesses plan only around Stage 4, 6, or even 8 load shedding. But what happens when the power is gone for a week because of a damaged power supply lines or substation failure? No schedule. No SMS warning. Just instant darkness.
For any business, downtime isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s catastrophic, with lost revenue, possibly damaged stock, halted operations, unproductive staff to be paid, or sent home which impacts their livelihood, missed orders and broken client trust, the list gets long.
How did we keep doors open?
At Bigfisch Projects over the years we have partnered with numerous clients from various industries from Commercial to Industrial, Mining and Agriculture in Southern Africa and have developed tailored energy solutions that fit their requirements and budget.
With access to funding to unlock cash strapped projects many more of these businesses have been able to maintain consistency in their operations without negatively impacting their cashflow.
Our services include Load Profiling & Reporting to determine specific needs, solution-based Project Development & Engineering, supported by Financing if required.
Once approved we start Procurement & take care of Product Supply and Project Management, and ongoing Solar Plant Operation & Maintenance after system commissioning and final handover.
We offer diverse solutions ranging from Rooftop or Ground Mounted Solar and even specialised structures such as Car Parks. These systems can be a combination of a Grid Connected application with diesel Generator Integration, a Containerized – Battery Energy Storage System or fully fledged Integrated Smart Micro Grid.
The recent electricity supply interruption on our doorstep has reinforced the lesson we share with clients every day: Backup power is a necessity for every business not a luxury.
If your company is still relying on municipal supply capability alone, you’re taking on unnecessary risk. Here’s how businesses can prepare for outages scheduled or not:
Backups That Last: Solar and battery systems that carry you through hours, days, or even weeks.
Know Your Load Profile: Energy audits that size systems correctly and prevent overspending.
Critical Load Prioritisation: Keep essential equipment on, cut what doesn’t matter, and extend your runtime.
Integrated Systems: For many businesses, it’s not just electricity, it’s cooling, water, or production too. A holistic system keeps the essentials going.
Ongoing Optimisation: Monitoring and adjustments ensure your system continues to match your business needs.
We witnessed Meadowdale businesses struggle because of an outage no one planned for. We also saw how the right solutions make the difference between shutting down and remaining operational, some businesses that already have alternative energy solutions in place managed to carry on without skipping a beat. We salute you!
Bigfisch, doesn’t just sell solar panels. We design and build on-site resilience that form part of dynamic energy solutions. Because in Africa today, it’s not only about whether it’s a power outage due to supply interruption, but aging and failing infrastructure, vandalism, theft and many more factors are be considered as well.
Let’s talk about how your business can safeguard against the next outage.
