Saving money with solar power
Though initial outlay is pricey, lithium batteries have cut running costs
Escaping the rising costs of Eskom requires capital, but returns are forever
“Sunshine is free, and in South Africa it’s reliable, aside from the odd rainy day,” said Carl Muller of MullerKonsult.
Muller is an East London-based accountant and has worked in the industry for nearly a decade.
“Sunshine electricity, or photovoltaic [PV] is initially investment expensive, but after that it’s free, and a profitable investment,” Muller said.
So how complicated is PV? “Depending on whether people want to go totally off the Eskom grid, using generators to supplement the sun, or stay linked to Eskom, the initial investment is about R160,000.
“The return from savings, over the life of the system, is about 10%,” he said.
Cost effectiveness increases with the continued decrease in equipment costs.
“Ten years ago each watt of PV energy cost R30. Today it is down to R7 or R8 per watt.”
Chintsa East resident Rick Tudhope followed the sun four years ago, installing PV and solar geysers.
“The attraction was a reliable and continuous source of power,” Tudhope said.
As Muller concedes, PV is a mystery to many people, and the lack of knowledge keeps them linked to Eskom.
Tudhope said it was quite simple to use once installed. He equates it to driving a car.
“You don’t need to understand what is happening under the bonnet. The same applies to solar systems. Trying to become an expert is complicated, using it isn’t.”
Tudhope said every time the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted Eskom a large price increase, “my return period shrinks, and I am only 18 months away from breaking even”.
“Initially my electricity consumption dropped by 86%.”
Price will stop most people installing PV, keeping them captive to whatever increases Eskom can wangle through Nersa.
Muller says it is worth exploring adding the full purchase price of a solar system to a bond, and stretching the bond repayment period.
Muller said one of the main objections to PV was renewal costs of the battery banks needed for storage. But the advent of lithium batteries had changed this.
Although costing more, the higher voltage stored meant that it took fewer batteries to provide the same amount of power. They also weigh less, require little maintenance, store four times more energy and offer 10 times the life cycle when charged.
Mike Brown, a director of Out the Green Box, says solar is already providing hot water to several villages through solar geysers.
Converting existing developments or villages to PV is too costly as Eskom and municipalities own all the reticulation facilities.
However, new housing developments and farms without links to Eskom could be powered solely by the sun, with reticulation absorbed into the full price.
PV’s real beneficiaries are large complexes such as retail parks and malls, with daytime demand. For example, Vincent Park, said Muller, had 1,800 PV panels.
“While most places do not need to go totally off-grid, their sunshine savings and efficiencies are immense. The other winners are factories, which can use the sun to supplement generators, a blend of power that is impossible to beat in rands saved.”
Muller predicts that the rocky relationship between Eskom and municipalities will drive up electricity costs, and with it PV demand.
“Municipalities are withholding revenue from electricity. Eskom will have to take over all supply and revenue collection. All the more reason for people to embrace the sun.”