South Africa’s Solar Photovoltaic Industry

Exploring South Africa’s most promising renewable energy resource

S outh Africa is currently undergoing an energy crisis. The national supplier, Eskom, is heavily reliant on coal-fired plants, which are unreliable and often break down. Whenever they do so – or are taken offline for maintenance – the sharp drop in supply results in widespread and unprecedented blackouts, lasting up to four hours at a time. Not only is this inconvenient for householders, it is disastrous for businesses and subsequently the economy.

The country is therefore seeking to make its energy supply more reliable and cost-effective.

Renewable energy is increasingly touted as an alternative, especially solar energy, which South

Africa boasts an abundance of. In fact, according to Daniel Schroth, Acting Director for Renewable Energy at the African Development Bank, Africa is the world’s most ‘solar rich’ continent.

South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, recently announced that Eskom will be tendering 6.8 GW of renewable energy – predominantly wind and solar – from independent power producers. This will be connected to the grid to help meet escalating demand, and become more sustainable.

It is also indicative of the fact that solar is currently being explored as a genuinely viable solution to the

energy crisis. Solar is set to play a key part in the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a roadmap detailing South Africa’s decarbonisation and its energy mix by 2030. It hopes that by then solar PV will represent 10.5 percent of energy capacity, representative of 8.3 GW.

Different solar applications in South Africa

South Africa is one of the countries pioneering solar power on the continent. There are many private renewables companies within the country, which are able to provide businesses with solar PV solutions to make their electricity supply more secure.

There are also plenty of NGOs who have devoted themselves to providing solar solutions to South Africa’s rural population, many of whom lack access to the grid. Offgrid solar PV solutions can be used to charge mobile phones and lights, allowing small businesses greater connectivity and children a chance to complete homework in the evenings – in short, it has a valuable role to play in socio-economic upliftment.

Even industries not normally associated with sustainability are seeking to transition towards solar.

The Marula Platinum Mine in South Africa recently tendered for a 10 MW solar plant, claiming that Eskom’s unreliable electricity supply has affected its levels of production.

Both private companies and scientists within the country are also working on how to use solar in a wide array of different applications, especially in the agricultural sector.

Researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Agricultural Research Council have been working on a solar powered air-cooling crop storage system. They tested the system in September with cold storage of tomatoes over a 28 day period – it is hoped the technology can be used for crop storage in remote parts of Sun-Saharan Africa.

Industry challenges

It is obvious that Solar PV is an area of vast potential. However, the industry in South Africa is not without its challenges. Many stakeholders believe that Eskom’s 2022 energy tender doesn’t solve the energy crisis occurring in the country now.

“The real way to solve the current load shedding is to focus on the regulatory issues, to address the concerns around generation licences. [Rules should] allow potential producers to sell back into the grid, including small-scale solar projects and micro grids. These solutions can be deployed quickly, and there is a lot of capital ready to mobilise to do that,” says Lido Fontana, a lawyer at law firm Covington & Burling in Johannesburg.

Many people believe that the government still has vested interests in coal, which will prevent solar PV being used to its fullest potential. However, there is increasing pressure from all areas for economies and governments to adopt clean energies in order to decarbonise.