Illovo Country Estate gains complete energy independence with solar power, freeing 240 homes from the grid

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – May 6, 2025

Decentral Energy, Blockpower, and Alley Roads proudly announce the commissioning of a fully off-grid 828 kWp solar photovoltaic (PV) installation with a 2 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at Illovo Country Estate, a 240-unit affordable housing development in Illovo, KwaZulu-Natal.

This comprehensive energy solution, financed by Decentral Energy, designed and built by Blockpower, integrates seamlessly into Alley Roads’s innovative housing model. It has enabled the estate to go fully off grid, providing clean, uninterrupted power to residents and eliminating dependence on the increasingly unstable and carbon intensive local grid.

A mix of rooftop, carport, and ground-mounted solar panels provides the estate’s full daily energy requirements, while Blockpower’s pioneering load management and metering technology ensures that stored solar energy is efficiently used to provide 24/7 electricity – even during cloudy days or at night.

“Decentral Energy is redefining energy access for communities,” said Christian Bode, Executive Director of Decentral Energy. “By financing this off-grid system at Illovo Country Estate, we’re giving 240 households clean, dependable power, liberating them from an unreliable grid and securing their energy future.”

“Our load management and metering technology is a game-changer,” said Kyle Bohnsack, CEO of Blockpower. “We’ve built a system that delivers uninterrupted power to residents, proving sustainable energy can replace a faltering grid entirely.”

“Illovo Country Estate is about building better lives,” said Ivan Pretorius, CEO of Alley Roads. “With Decentral Energy and Blockpower, our residents now have stable, clean electricity, free from outages and volatile utility costs, making their homes truly independent.”

Residents now enjoy consistent power for lighting, appliances, and daily needs – with no exposure to load shedding or outages and significantly reducing their carbon emissions. The estate stands as a benchmark for sustainable residential development in South Africa and a replicable model for energy-secure affordable housing nationwide.