More solar energy for SA

As usual, 20 years behind the rest of the world, without letting go of trying to cling to the money in our pockets.

The prices will never come down, with guavament involved in selling the electricity to the consumer.

We need to create a competitive market. Let the consumer sell excess energy to Eskom.

A Solar Panel on Every Roof™... http://www.nanosolar.com/homes
 
I will be installing solar water heating before Winter next year. It would be good if there was more support and incentive to do it but I remain determined to do it anyway.
 
McT said:
I will be installing solar water heating before Winter next year. It would be good if there was more support and incentive to do it but I remain determined to do it anyway.
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In Oz the gov gives you a subsidy and tax breaks if you go green(solar).
 
McT, check out the companies prior to going ahead, shop around and check out their products too. Solar geysers(it just keeps water warm/hot) are subsidised by eskom and if u not careful its likely the companies will make you pay full price and pocket subsidy funds they get after installing.(don't forget to install geyser duvet + timer switches!)

I reckon we should build turbines/wind farms on table mountain and cpt point ;) much more potential there and elevation of sites, thermals and coastal location means is gonna be good
 
McT just dont believe all the "savings" they claim you will get. It is very very optimistic. I looked into solar geysers for a bunch of rental properties I run, and from a financial point of view its not really worth it, according to the guy who would have done the installation and have done solar geyser installations for 15 years.
 
o you can go solar, if you have about R20k.
 
So how much does it cost for solar panels per panel + output(watt) + batteries + converters ? With the hikes in energy costs on the horizon i'm thinking its time to do some cost + savings projections
 
BrokenLink said:
McT just dont believe all the "savings" they claim you will get. It is very very optimistic. I looked into solar geysers for a bunch of rental properties I run, and from a financial point of view its not really worth it, according to the guy who would have done the installation and have done solar geyser installations for 15 years.
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Cuts our costs down by 50% because we basically run one geyser for the same time as before instead of running two(volume of water is the same, actually increased by 50litres). I think it all depends on how you use it + insulation + timers + how the plumbing is done so water moves around etc
 
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Shell and Eskom launched a solar project a few years ago, but pulled out of it.

How was the vision translated into action?

In the Eskom-Shell concession the first phase of the project was quickly implemented because ‘promises needed to be fulfilled and many pressures towards service delivery to the deprived people existed’ (Afrane-Okese 2003).

From February 1999 to March 2000 about 6 000 SHSs had been
installed.

The company ran into many problems, Shell and Eskom pulled out and the company was
liquidated. Three smaller companies have taken over the concession area and have been providing the services for the last few years.

This indicates that the business model is viable, provided the
necessary adaptations to accommodate local conditions are made.
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Read the full study - quite interesting.

I would also like to add, that if every restaurant in this country used gas for
cooking and not electricity it would help a bit, the same goes for homes,
gas is cheap enough and not on the almost depleted resource list.
 
I did some work for a large solar manufacturer in SA about 8yrs back, ironically even though EISKOM knew at the time they were running into *****t , they were not interested in doing mass solar installations, although proof of concept showed the long term benefits.
Goes to show, if they took their heads out of their @sses then, we may not BEE in such a mess.
 
wrathex said:
I would also like to add, that if every restaurant in this country used gas for
cooking and not electricity it would help a bit, the same goes for homes,
gas is cheap enough and not on the almost depleted resource list.
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I'm looking into gas now because of the Eskom increases, any suggestions/advice?
 
BrokenLink said:
McT just dont believe all the "savings" they claim you will get. It is very very optimistic. I looked into solar geysers for a bunch of rental properties I run, and from a financial point of view its not really worth it, according to the guy who would have done the installation and have done solar geyser installations for 15 years.
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I agree
the equipment only pays for itself in 15yrs which means by then the technology will be redundant.
IMO wait and see approach is more viable as the technology matures in the next few years
 
eltherza said:
I'm looking into gas now because of the Eskom increases, any suggestions/advice?
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well last year , i believe gas prices also headed north, not sure if this had anything to do with the shortage at some stage. But in any industry its very easy to ensure price increase, just decrease supply, ask OPEC they seem to be the genious's at it.
 
From another thread:

BCO said:
Some quick calcs:

Assuming 15% interest on your R8k loan over 3 years, you end up paying R9983.00

Electricity is currently around 55c/kWh.

A SWH can save you around 30% of your monthly electricity usage. Let's assume an average household uses about 50kWh/day or 1500kWh/month or R825/month.

30% of R825 is R247.

So you're looking at 40 months to pay it off. But remember that electricity prices are going to increase a lot over that 40 month period, so the payback time is less.
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