I was driving around East Lynn in Pretoria on business earlier this week when I drove past a shop dedicated entirely to solar energy. Solar power, geysers and all that. I decided to stop and ask the people there how much it would cost to move my office computers off the grid. The sales guy immediately readied me for a shock and instead asked me if he could calculate the cost of just taking a laptop off the grid. I agreed and he started to click away on his calculator keypad.

Around R18000 to run my laptop off solar and solar generated backup power 24/7. Holy smokes! R18000 is a lot of money for going renewable and this got me thinking about a couple of things, first of which was that this man must be smoking his socks! R18000, you have got to be kidding me! This was my first contact with solar power pricing in South Africa and I have to admit that I need to do a lot more homework before I commit to anything as exorbitant as that. For that price I think I will unfortunately have to force Eskom to burn a little bit of coal on my behalf a bit longer.

I am convinced I will find a cheaper way of doing it the DIY way. It will take a little bit of skills training on my part but I will manage. I am pretty sure I will. I have a list of suppliers I need to contact and this blog will be the place where I will share my adventures towards getting as much of my power needs fulfilled from the sun (and wind if possible). I have a couple of questions that need answering and they are:

Are solar power technologies really that expensive or are we being fed false information. What is that price for?

How easy is it to do it yourself? Sure, you will need an electrician for some stuff, but surely you can build your own panels nowadays or can’t you?

Where are the best places for information? Should I find a dependable importer with good knowledge and eager to share, or should I opt for books or magazines on green power?

Can you legally climb off the power grid in South Africa should you have the money to do so?

These are just a few questions, but I plan to offer some explanation in the near future of what I find. I would love your input on these matters as well. So if you have walked this path and feel you have information to share that can help me solve the expensive green power problem, please email me at antowan@myadsl.co.za