Johannesburg Aug 16 (BUS): Thanks to solar panels on the roof of his house, Pierre Moreau only noticed the blackouts that regularly plunge South Africa into darkness when complaints surfaced on a WhatsApp group in the Johannesburg neighbourhood.
“I have a certain standard of living,” said the 68-year-old financial planner, who loves to relax in the sauna of his home. “I want to be able to live as I am now.”
As a deepening energy crisis cripples Africa’s most industrialized economy, angering public opinion, President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to cut red tape to boost coal-addicted South Africa’s use of renewable energy.
But many South Africans are not waiting for government action and their impatience has led to a boom in small-scale solar installations.
“I can’t be without electricity. It’s that simple,” said Moreau, whose panels power his home and adjoining office. “Every minute I come back costs me money.”
A Reuters analysis of customs data found that in the first five months of this year alone, South Africa imported 2.2 billion rand ($135 million) worth of photovoltaic solar panels. Analysts say that amounts to more than 500 megawatts of peak generation capacity.
Once installed, the panels will increase 2.1 gigawatts of current estimated small-scale solar generation capacity by about 24%, exceeding what the government has been able to purchase in a decade of its utility-scale solar strategy.
“It’s not fully recognized by the government in terms of the scale of the industry it has become,” said Frank Spencer, a spokesperson for the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association. “It’s a silent revolution.”
It’s also a missed opportunity.
In a country that requires 4 to 6 gigawatts of additional production to end widespread blackouts, known locally as load shedding, most systems are unregistered and deliver nothing back to the power-starved grid.
And its high cost means that, for now at least, it is only a solution to the relatively wealthy, deep divisions in what is already one of the world’s most unequal societies.
“If you have the money, you can do it yourself,” said Solly Seolol, who is unemployed like half of South Africa’s population. “But the people who are suffering don’t have the money to buy these panels.”
Despite the abundance of solar and wind energy resources, the South African government has proven reluctant to embrace renewable energy. Until its relaunch in 2021, pressure from mining unions ensured a program of utility-wide private projects was frozen for years.
Eskom has increased the urgency to find alternatives because it produces 80% of its energy from coal.
Tabi Tabi witnessed it himself. In just one month last year, his solar company, Granville Energy, received 349 inquiries for rooftop systems.
“Over the course of 24 months, we have seen a continuous increase, month after month, in demand,” he said. “We see interest across the board.”
By the time one of his clients, Leigh Driemel, decided to install a 42-board system at her swimming academy last year, her monthly electric bill was running around 26,000 rand and a power outage began forcing her to cancel lessons.
“We would have ended up charging 300 rand for a swimming lesson,” she said. “Who’s going to pay that? Our margins are constantly shrinking.”
It’s now insulated against blackouts and has reduced your electricity bill by over 40%.
Across South Africa, similar calculations are made by private residents as well as large and small businesses.
Cheaper solar PV and batteries, as well as a loosening of regulations last year that required government approval for systems over 1 megawatt, are strengthening the case for self-generated solar.
“Everyone is saying ‘OK, we’ve had enough,'” said Mark Evans, director of Partners in Performance, a South African business consultancy. We need a solution.”
Advocates of small-scale solar say South Africa has a long way to go.
On a wall in Granville Energy’s head office, large screens show in real time how much energy solar energy systems are producing to customers. After fully charging its battery, one house used only 20% of its generating capacity.
“It’s sad and unfortunate that we’re wasting so much energy,” Tapie said.
Announcing his planned reforms last month, Ramaphosa has announced that Eskom will create a pricing structure to allow those with solar panels to sell electricity they don’t need back to utilities, a common practice in many countries.
As it is, relatively few solar power users in South Africa power the grid, and industry insiders say most small-scale systems have not been declared to authorities, despite there being a legal requirement to register them.
In Johannesburg alone, it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 unregistered solar systems, most of which are residential, an official from the city’s energy distributor said.
In the absence of attractive tariffs, these customers are increasingly moving out of the network.
“They are lost in the power system forever,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. “It is much better to keep them on the network, to be part of a working network community.”
A fair energy buyback tariff could encourage more South Africans to sign up, connect their systems and give Eskom some breathing space.
But it likely will do little to overcome the main obstacle that most potential customers of rooftop solar face: cost.
While banks have started to help, with ABSA and Nedbank offering products dedicated to financing small-scale solar energy, rooftop systems remain out of reach for most poor South Africans like Prince Mkhize.
He works at a car wash in Alexandra, a low-income, high-crime town across from a busy highway from Sandton – Johannesburg’s financial district called “the richest square mile in Africa”.
When a power outage hits, Mkhize can’t turn on his jet wash or vacuum cleaner and watches frustrated potential clients come and go.
“We’ve been standing here for eight hours without cars,” he said. “When there is loading, there is no work.”
MI