Can Solar Power Help Solve the South African Energy Crisis?
South Africa is struggling under power crises such as load shedding, overloaded power utilities, and wet coal. Could solar power be the answer?
Load shedding has become part and parcel of South Africa’s way of life. What is the solution to the power utility crisis? More and more South Africans are finding alternative ways of powering their world with alternate access to electricity. Renewable sources such as solar could be one solution to the energy challenge.
How is South Africa addressing the energy crisis in the country?
Eskom conducts load shedding by implementing a series of planned power outages. Unreliable electricity is the order of the day! The power utility has implemented load shedding to help maintain the state infrastructure and power stations.
Eskom is struggling with increased electricity demand, and independent power producers have not officially been introduced into the system as a solution yet. Many South Africans are finding alternative energy sources because of the current energy shortage.
Some of these include solar panels. Solar energy is a cleaner energy source that can help you pay fewer electricity tariffs. It is time to find solutions, as electricity users are struggling through rolling blackouts.
Is solar an affordable supply of energy?
South Africa enjoys many sunny days throughout the year. As energy demand increases on the country’s main power utility, solar energy could be a very viable and attainable solution. Renewable energy is clean and affordable; the perfect answer to the energy woes in Southern Africa.
Most areas in Southern Africa are getting seven hours of sunlight daily. Personal solar photovoltaic systems could be the answer. The average household in South Africa consumes 10kWh energy daily.
A single, average solar panel exposed to seven hours of sunlight can give your household 2KwH of power. With a few panels on the roof, any household in Sub-Saharan Africa’s warm climate can do away with coal-fired power plants.
Renewable Energy Projects Face Energy Storage Difficulties
The storage of energy is a difficulty. This is the situation with many personal power systems throughout South Africa. Stage 4 load shedding means users are out of power for 48 hours across 8 days!
You would need to use 16 deep cycle batteries to store 48 hours of energy. We will need two of these batteries to survive four hour periods of load-shedding.
Solar is slowly moving consumers away from total dependency on coal. It is not up to individuals alone to start using solar. Eskom needs to introduce larger solar power systems to service South Africa as a whole.
Other energy initiatives also need to be introduced. Most South Africans are not able to move away entirely from the grid. As load shedding continues, it will affect public institutions, private individuals, businesses, and our economic growth.
Are you ready to go off the grid and install solar? We are here to answer your questions!
Contact our offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban. Alternatively, fill out our easy form and tell us what you need. We offer a range of solar products. Perhaps this is the future of South Africa!
Source: renewableenergyworld.com
