Instant verification that solar batteries can indeed power an ‘Eskom proof’ future

AS AN engineer I second Errol Musk’s letter (Elon Musk of Tesla’s dad) on solar power batteries.

Having spent the last two weekends helping a friend install a 5KVA smart inverter, hooked up to four batteries, to “Eskom proof” his house, I was amazed.

His relatively electrically frugal house with solar geyser and cooking and heating on gas merrily coped on cutting the mains supply, even with me forgetting to reset the small pool pump timer.

LED lighting, TV system, computer, fancy electronic keyboard and sound system (all now UPS protected from Eskom), four-door fridge and freezer all purred away happily.

After shutting down the pool pump, I pushed the system to the limit.

Toaster then microwave, still okay but at max power, then kettle and the warning buzzer indicating system overload kicked in for 30 seconds before shutdown.

But switching off the kettle and pressing the restart button had us back online in an instant, sans Eskom.

Load shedding has become a non-event as not even the lights flicker when the power goes down, so you have to look at the computer screen on the permanently connected inverter to know when the power is off.

The proper deep-cycle marine and caravan batteries used cost only R6 000, but Tesla’s Powerwall equivalent costs some R35 000, plus shipping to South Africa.

All the more reason for Errol to convince his son Elon to set up a battery manufacturing plant in Cape Town.

We can then all enjoy the benefit of Elon’s cutting-edge technology that is the heart of any alternate energy, namely the efficient storage of electrical power. John Buchanan

Somerset West