Solar on a site that never switches off

Next Media Park is the home of NBS and Uganda’s largest independent media house. Broadcast does not pause for a grid fault, and a site that goes dark on air is a site that has lost its audience, so the reliability requirement here is closer to a hospital than to an office.

A round-the-clock load with a daytime peak

The load runs continuously, with a heavy daytime component on top of the round-the-clock base. We sized the system to shave that daytime peak rather than to carry the site outright: 86 kWp of PV with 96 kWh of storage.

Carrying a 24 hour broadcast load entirely on solar and batteries would have meant a much larger battery running mostly to cover the quiet hours. Shaving the peak puts the money where the consumption actually is.

Built to be extended

The system was financed through a finance partner and has since been expanded. That is worth designing for from the start. Leaving room in the switchgear, in the cable routes and in the roof layout is cheap at build time and expensive to retrofit.

Why it is a reference we point to

Broadcast infrastructure is unforgiving in a way that suits how we work. If a system holds up on a site where every interruption is visible to the public, the case for weaker requirements makes itself.