Roofs that generate electricity coming alive with possibilities
In future it will probably be rare for housetops not to gather energy as this area is well covered
THE SUN BURNS 637 million tons of hydrogen atoms into 632 million tons of helium and thus creates 38 460 septillion watts (3.846 x 1 026W) of energy per second, which equates to roughly 1 386 watts per square metre (W/m²) in the upper atmosphere of Earth or 1 000 W/m² at sea level on a clear day.
This is still about 10 000 times more than the whole of earth needs at the moment and could over time eliminate the need to burn environmentally-unfriendly resources and as a result decrease carbon dioxide (CO ) emission levels.
As I have illustrated in Business Report over the past few weeks, this realisation is one of the reasons why the solar photovoltaic market has been expanding exponentially. Costs of silicon solar cells have declined considerably in the past few years, making solar photovoltaic systems easily accessible to many house or building owners.
However, one of the biggest complaints against solar is that solar panels installed at a house or building do not look aesthetically or visually appealing. But the ever-innovative Elon Musk and his company Tesla may have solved the problem of aesthetics by totally changing the visual appearance while at the same time providing a reliable source of solar electricity.
The Tesla Solar Roof, consisting of integrated solar glass shingles, is a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) product that integrates the functionality of solar panels and roof shingles, currently available in Tuscan, slate, textured and smooth glass tiles.
Although solar roof tiles and other solar modules integrated into buildings have been on the market for some time, the concept of an entire solar roof is new. The full roof coverage approach involves a solution where photovoltaics do not represent just an addition to an existing roof surface, but instead it is integrated into the structure of the house for aesthetic, constructive and electrical purposes.
The Tesla solar system could both convert and store solar energy throughout the day and then make it available when needed such as during the night. To store the solar energy the Tesla Solar Roof incorporated an embedded Powerwall battery system.
A major benefit of the Tesla Solar Roof is the durability of the tiles and shingles made from quartz and therefore virtually unbreakable. According to Tesla the glass tiles are harder and more stable than traditional clay tiles. They have a class 3 hail rating and class F wind rating. It carries a 25-year warranty, which is in line with traditional roof warranties.
The Tesla Solar Roof was originally announced to the world in October 2016, but due to some design issues production was initiated only in 2018. The rollout was, however, very limited
BIGEXIT, fintech, failure, success and impact are the keywords that define the past decade in the technology start-up world.
During this decade we witnessed major tech companies failing and closing shop. We also witnessed some great tech start-up success stories with founders who are still flying the tech start-up flag.
This decade was also marked by technology innovations that are truly making a difference in people’s lives. This edition, titled Decade of Tech Startups, of The Infonomist column shines a spotlight on the technologies and tech start-ups that shaped the past decade between 2010 and 2019.
In the tech start-up world starting a company and selling it for a sizeable amount or an exit is the ultimate goal. Two local fintech and edutech start-ups completed historical exits by South African standards.
Fundamo, a fintech start-up that was hatched at Sanlam laid the foundation for the decade through its acquisition by Visa. In June 2011, Fundamo was acquired by Visa for $110 million. Fundamo built one of the worlds most advanced and sophisticated mobile financial service platforms.
The platform was deployed in more than 34 countries across Africa, Asia and while Tesla was working on version 3 of the design.
The price of Tesla Solar Roof Tiles decreased by 40 percent from version 2 to version 3 (now known as the Solar Glass Roof) due to optimisation and faster installation. Tesla installation took double the time than the installation of a normal tile roof, which usually takes about five to seven days depending on the size of the roof.
The new Solar Glass Roof (version 3) has been simplified with fewer parts and sub-assemblies to get the installation, according to Tesla, down to as little as one day, thus bringing down the installation costs significantly. Version 3 is apparently not only simpler and faster to install, but more intuitive than previous versions. The new roof tiles are also much larger in size and more power dense, which will in the words of Musk “make roofs come alive” to gather energy.
But Tesla is not the only company to launch a solar roof product. Several companies have been designing versatile solar tiles and rooftop technologies, intending to integrate them seamlessly into the construction of homes and other buildings.
In South Africa there are several suppliers of solar roof products. One supplier, using a German manufactured product, claims that its photovoltaic roof will pay for itself in less than 10 the Middle East, offering mobile financial services to unbanked and underbanked mobile subscribers including person-to-person payments, bill payments, wireless airtime top-up and ticketing. Fundamo became a pioneering company of the fintech industry in South Africa.
The Fundamo big exit story was followed by an Edutech start-up exit story. In 2017, an educational technology start-up, Get Smarter, was acquired by 2u, an international educational technology company, for $100 million (R1.48 billion). At the time it became the first company to be acquired by 2u in its quest to build a global edutech company.
Acquisition of a South African technology start-up for this amount served years depending on the size of the roof and the energy demand of the particular household.
In addition to supplying electricity, these weatherproof photovoltaic roof tiles also insulate the house against cold and heat from above. It can also provide heat for daily hot water and any other heating needs during the winter since the entire roof area is used as a large thermal collector. The heat energy is extracted from under the tiles and is then utilised for domestic hot water and household heating. This process has the additional benefit of improving the cooling of the solar cells contained within the tiles, which increases their efficiency and results in an increase in electricity generation.
Using the usable fraction of the sunlight spectrum one South African solar roof supplier claims to generate an output of up to 212 Wp/m² or 93 kW/h per day for a 100m² roof. These roofs also have long life spans of 80 years or more and therefore carry warranties up to 40 years.
However, the solar roof market is a difficult market and the US leader of a few years ago, Dow Chemical, gave up in 2016 after installing about a 1 000 units. The brand resurfaced a few years later as part of RGS Energy with a much-improved efficiency. However, the board of RGS recently decided to abandon the solar roof business since as an indicator that a local tech start-up eco-system can develop technologies that solve global challenges.
This decade also had its share of tech start-up success and failure stories. In 2012, South African dreams of developing the country’s first electric vehicle, Joule, were dashed as the tech start-up behind the project folded. Joule was an electric five-seat passenger car by Optimal Energy, a South African tech start-up based in Cape Town. Although Joule was folded, it was an important step by South Africa to manufacture an automobile.
One of the biggest tech names to join the South African tech start-up cemetery in the last decade is one Stellenbosch founded company, Mxit. What was then considered to be the biggest instant messaging platform in the country became a victim of tech developments such as WhatsApp.
In the history of Mxit users, 2015 will forever be remembered as the sad moment for millions of users of this African tech giant. Mxit was officially closed down in 2015 and its intellectual property handed over to a trust.
While Mxit was busy dying, another group of tech start-ups were emerging. These start-ups were inspired by the Uber phenomenon. One such tech start-up was SweepSouth. Since 2014, it was losing too much money.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems currently is the cost of solar roofs. A 9.45kW Tesla Solar Glass Roof of 173m² will typically cost about R566 500 for the roof, another R157 000 for the Powerwall and R126 000 for roof and site repairs. This amounts to a total of R849 500 at the current exchange rate. Obstructions and complex roof designs may even increase the installation costs.
The cost per square metre of a Tesla Solar Glass Roof is thus still significantly higher than a standard roof with traditional solar panels installed, mainly due to the high acquisition costs, but also due to a relatively low efficiency ratio and a slow return on investment over 10 years or more. The lower efficiency ratio is according to Tesla due to the accommodation of aesthetics and also depends on the colour used.
In light of the high cost and slow return on investment it only makes financial sense to consider a solar roof for new houses or if a roof needs to be replaced in less than five years. Otherwise a standard solar panel set-up is much more cost-effective.
Musk is, however, a firm believer that residential solar roofs will not only power household activities, but eventually can make money for the owners.
According to him, solar roofs will in the near future cost less than traditional roofing materials. However, a major
SweepSouth has become the Uber of cleaning services in South Africa. It’s a tech start-up that was born out of a frustration with getting an assistant at home.
Alen Ribic and Aisha Pandor poured their savings into launching SweepSouth, a platform where users can book cleaners. Today the application boasts revenue of over R100m and investments from some of the leading technology investors.
Towards the end of 2014, in October, another tech start-up, Yoco, that has proven to be successful was hatched. Yoco was founded by four friends, Katlego Maphai, Carl Wazen, Bradley Wattrus and Lungisa Matshoba, who shared a passion for smart technology and a desire to help small business.
Yoco has enabled entrepreneurs who had no means of payment systems to easily access the best technology available with ease. It has transformed how South African entrepreneurs enable payments in their own business. Yoco has truly enabled financial inclusion.
The company has grown to become a major player in the South African start-up scene, raising $23m in total funding, including a recent series B close of $16m.
Tech start-ups during this decade have also been impactful. One of the difference in some other countries like the US is the significant tax credits that make solar solutions much more attractive. But, in South Africa, at least one company claims that its solar roof solution costs less than a normal roof.
Overall solar roof tiles are still expensive, but if it is compared with the cost of a new premium roof plus the cost of a solar array, it may become competitive and is certainly much more aesthetically pleasing than a roof with solar panels. The continuous progress with regard to improved solar efficiencies will also make the return on investment time much shorter.
But if aesthetics is not a consideration at all, it would be much more cost-effective to currently stay with traditional silicon panels. Traditional silicon panels have become quite cheap, and the price is continuously dropping. According to Jenny Chase, the head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF in Zurich, Switzerland, it is “one of the cheapest sources of electricity.”
The solar industry keeps moving forward at an amazing pace. In future it will probably be rare for roofs not to gather energy. And it will be very affordable, aesthetic and cost less than a normal roof.
Professor Louis C H Fourie is a futurist and technology strategist | Lfourie@gmail. com greatest tech solutions to emerge out of this decade is the Pelebox by Technovera. Pelebox is a simple wall of lockers, controlled by a digital system. Healthcare workers stock the lockers with prescription refills, log the medicine on the system, and secure each locker. Pelebox then sends patients a one-time PIN, which they use to open their locker and access their medicine.
A long queue at a health centre inspired Neo Hutiri to develop a digital platform that manages various internet enabled smart lockers. He started his medical technology company, Technovera, in 2016, to help patients on chronic treatment have a much more convenient experience taking care of their health.
Tech start-ups have contributed positively to the economy over the past few years. In the next decade more will need to be done by local tech start-ups. There’s only 10 years left to achieve National Development Plan 2030 goals and work towards solving some of its challenges outlined to truly make a difference.
Visit BR online to learn more about tech start-ups that shaped a decade.
Wesley Diphoko is the Editor-In-Chief of The Infonomist. You can follow him on Twitter via: @WesleyDiphoko
DENNIS Wilson is right to question the ability of our understaffed health inspectors to prevent unsafe meat getting to consumers (“Are there ongoing meat safety inspections in SA?”, Business Report, November 6). In a Fin24 article (October 23, 2019) it was reported that a R1.4 million fine was imposed on one of the country’s largest meat wholesalers, Durban-based Chester Meat, because of the provision of “unsafe meat”.
The information was provided in a parliamentary submission by the National Consumer Commission. Wilson raises a number of questions, and the public deserves the answers. What meat was it, was it local or imported, and if so from which country? How much meat is not tested because of under staffing?
To these we would add: What was the health issue at Chester Meat? What has the company done about it? And what steps are they and the government taking to ensure a repeat does not happen?
This is not an isolated case. The National Consumer Commission’s (NCC) latest annual report details the urgent product safety recall of a consignment of chicken portions imported from Brazil by another large importer, Merlog Foods. The consignment tested positive for salmonella.
According to the NCC’s annual report, Merlog appealed against the recall, but the initial results were confirmed as well as the safety recall. The NCC could not locate the consignment and its investigation revealed that in the meantime the consignment was removed and had illegally been distributed, some of it was used by the buyers to “manufacture raw and cooked products for sale directly to consumers or to other smaller businesses”.
It’s a scandalous state of affairs, which FairPlay has been trying for some time to expose. We have recently been in touch with the authorities, and with Merlog, over chicken portions offered for sale which we believe do not meet local labelling requirements. Labelling is critical to trace contamination, and as Wilson points out, more than 200 people died last year, because of the listeriosis outbreak. A similar tragedy must not be allowed to happen again.
FRANCOIS BAIRD,
Founder, FairPlay
TOYOTA Motor Corp announced a 200 billion yen (R27 billion) share buyback as quarterly profit topped analysts’ estimates, underscoring the Japanese automaker’s ability to keep profitability on track amid sputtering global demand for cars. Operating income for the fiscal second quarter that ended in September was 662 billion yen, thanks to cost controls and solid vehicle sales in Japan and North America, the company said yesterday. That compares with analysts’ average estimate of 604 billion yen. The shares rose 1 percent after the results. Toyota joins Tesla Inc, Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG with better-than-anticipated results, even as vehicle sales weaken across the globe. Japan’s automakers are also getting hurt by a stronger yen eroding income brought home. Cost controls have helped Toyota maintain profits ahead of analysts’ projections, even while it is investing heavily as the industry faces a tectonic shift to electrification and selfdriving automobiles. “Sales in Japan are solid, while in the US RAV4 demand is supporting a weaker environment,” said Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities. “China is solid, while Southeast Asia is showing signs of weakness, but overall Toyota’s global sales are doing well.” The repurchase represents as much as 1.2 percent of shares, in line with Toyota’s past buybacks. In recent years, the company has typically announced a repurchase authorisation of 200 billion yen to 300 billion yen twice a year. Some of the profit gains came from a change in depreciation methods, which lowered expenses by 80.6 billion yen in the first two quarters, Toyota said. I Bloomberg