The state of solar in SA: Finally, a breakthrough is being achieved

By Gregor Kuepper, Managing Director, SOLARWORLD Africa

Gregor Kuepper is the Managing Director of SOLARWORLD Africa, a leading importer and distributor of solar products in Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa. With a head office in Cape Town, Kuepper also runs warehouses in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

The Honourable Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr. Gwede Mantashe said at the Solar Power Africa Conference at the CTICC in February this year, that South Africa’s solar resource potential is amongst the highest in the world, and I could not agree with him more.

As a country, we average over 2 500 hours of sunshine per year equating to 4.5 and 6.5 kWh/m2 per day, these high solar irradiation levels, means we are poised for great success. 

Eskom also announced in October that it would embrace renewable energy to assist in alleviating the current power generation constraints by working with five independent clean power producers. 

And The City of Cape Town has proposed a reward system for those who reduce their electricity consumption on demand – this is in addition to mitigating the effects of loadshedding with the operation of its 180 MW hydroelectric plant at the Steenbras Dam.  

It seems there is finally a breakthrough. 

As a business, SOLARWORLD has seen on the commercial side that the decision making is based on not only trying to avoid loadshedding but looking at integrating solar as a general source of power supply to reduce electricity costs dramatically – while some may turn to a generator, it’s not the cheapest option.

What has changed now is the model that makes battery integration viable. Beside the fact that if you look at the cost per kilowatt per hour, it is important to note that solar plus batteries are always cheaper than a generator. This is where the opportunities lie for South Africa.

In the past, seeing that there was generally affordable and reliable electricity supply, it was cheaper to integrate solar directly without battery but in a grid-tied environment, the integration of battery to compensate every couple of weeks for two hours of generator load does not make sense. Especially seeing that we now have no power at predetermined times throughout the day – our friend: loadshedding.

Investing in PV and Battery as a backup and later self-consumption optimisation option. 

Self-consumption contributes to the distribution grid stability by avoiding voltage rise during peak PV generation periods such as the middle of the day and helps to reach higher shares of installed PV in the electricity mix. 

When it comes to PV and battery, this can be served by either a hybrid (meaning PV and battery) inverter or separate battery and PV inverter. The batteries act as backup power when the grid has failed e.g. loadshedding or a power outage. During a normal day, PV can provide power in a house and charge these batteries. This stored power can then be used during the night – this is how self-consumption optimisation works.

Imagine everyone goes solar, what is going to happen in the morning or afternoon when there is no solar available, what’s going to happen during daytime when there is all this solar power available – at a certain stage of generation capacity? This is when the integration of a battery is a must. 

Looking at the current situation (it’s important to note that we are still in the early stages), integration may take place to benefit those at the early adoption stage of the system. 

In the past, our entire solar hybrid systems were off-grid because we were up against the use of a generator.  When we were selling solar and battery as an off-grid application, it was because it was always cheaper to run versus a generator.  

Now the potential lies in the integration of batteries which is currently influenced by loadshedding. Commercial systems are going this route as part of the long-term plan to ensure grid stability, enabling back-ups and consumption-based schemes such as peak shaving and time-of-use.

What could be next after a PV and battery system? In various economies overseas, we are starting to see storage systems being built. This will enable large storage solutions to be managed together to ultimately sell back into the grid – in our case, enabling Eskom to stabilise the power supply. This would form part of a national power supply solution.

When SOLARWORLD started a few years back, looking at solar on commercial rooftops, together with our partners, we were at the forefront of that development in SA. Energy cost saving was a driving force, but as important was the ecological aspect of it. Saving thousands of kilograms of carbon emissions, having sustainable, renewable energy in your daily mix of consumption – it was something that together made the decision for most of the larger systems to be built. 

To show your ecological commitment through your green action was essential. It was viewed positively and often used for marketing and PR activities to build an image and everything that goes along with that, especially for exporters of agricultural produce where there is a requirement from Europe to showcase your carbon emission reduction. Between 2010 and 2018, there was always a mix of points which led to going solar. 

Today, the clean energy benefit is a given, it’s almost in the background. 

In the last years, the energy cost savings was a driving force, and now it’s the energy cost plus power security and power supply security because with the new technologies available, it’s more affordable to integrate batteries – especially on the commercial side.

Looking to the future for solar in South Africa, I’m optimistic.

Africa receives many more hours of bright sunshine during the course of the year than any other continent, with many of the planet’s sunniest places being situated here. So South Africa, with its long duration of sunshine, is primed to benefit.

With current developments and if we keep this pace, we will see a shift that you can already feel in the power supply space, and visibly, you will notice it too. 

I can already see this from the plane when approaching different airports… I look out of the window and can see the change with more solar panel installations on roof tops – both residential and commercial. I’m confident that in 5 years’ time, we will see a remarkable change.

The growth potential this year, and from the discussions with our partners regarding what to expect next year, there’s already a massive shift in terms of new installation capacity from the last 2-3 years.

As I mentioned, we are finally seeing a breakthrough – it’s finally being achieved and a good reason for all South Africans to be excited

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