Kheis Municipality in the Northern Cape Province – Micro-grids, South Africa

Internationally, over the past 2 years, PEER has been in working with its sister company, PEER Africa, to develop and install 507 distributive generation micro-grids in the informal settlement in the !Kheis Municipality in the Northern Cape Province in South Africa.  

Each home – described as an informal shelter constructed of bits and pieces of tin and/or wood – is equipped with a 7.5 kW PV solar home system kit, which includes a PV panel, kitchen appliances, cell phone charging station, a color TV, radio and computer.  These shelters are completely “off the grid”, since the central grid connection is far and already insecure and overloaded, operating completely on battery storage, i.e. DC current only.

Moreover, the team has supplemented additional technologies to provide a more robust energy program. For example, the roofs of all the shelters have been painted with cool coatings to allow the PV panels to operate more efficiently during the oppressively hot summers; whenever possible, the tin walls were also painted with cool coatings to allow for extra indoor thermal comfort for the residents.

PEER is on the cusp of delivering clean energy that incorporates “blue ocean” approaches in a “red ocean” space, creating solutions that are appropriate, innovative, and affordable.

District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DC SEU)

PEER Consultants is one of five teaming partners forming The Sustainable Energy Partnership, which helps to plan, lead and implement the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU), an organization under a performance-based contract with the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE). Since 2011, the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) has helped District residents, businesses, and institutions save energy and money through energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, all while creating a positive and lasting impact in the community. So far, they have achieved nearly $1 billion in lifetime energy cost savings.

In 2019, DCSEU continued its Workforce Development Program with goals of reducing unemployment, enhancing marketable skills for workers, and shaping the local green economy. Last year, the DCSEU had two cohorts of externs who worked alongside mentors at a variety of organizations, including WMATA, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), Howard University, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), WDC Solar, Greenscape Environmental Services, and Columbia Property Trust.

The organization develops programs that work to comply with the following performing benchmarks (and in FY2019, they exceeded all set annual targets): Natural Gas Savings and Electricity Savings; Renewable Energy Generating Capacity; Low-Income Spending; Low-Income Savings; Green Jobs Creation; and, Leveraging. The energy reduction programs aimed to achieve these benchmarks are implemented across four core market areas: Low-income Multifamily (LIMF) Services, Commercial and Institutional (C&I) Services, Single Family Residential Retrofit, and Renewable Energy Services.

PEER participates as a teaming partner, primarily responsible for providing program management, engineering, and account management services. PEER engineers have worked with a range of customers, including business owners, architects, engineers, vendors, trade allies to promote the installation of cost-effective and efficiency improvements in customers’ future and existing buildings/facilities as per their site specific needs. The PEER team performs energy and water utility bills analyses, and estimates cost savings for implementation and utilization of a variety of energy efficient and conserving measures appropriate to the project in office buildings, commercial properties, and residential apartment complexes in the Washington, DC area.