Think of every building, house, shack and pondok in the country. Now think of the same buildings, houses, shacks and pondoks, but each with a solar heater on the roof.
It seems an impossible dream, yet, experts say, every household could have had a free solar power unit on its roof if public money had been spent on solar rather than nuclear power.
Billions have been spent researching and developing nuclear power, yet Koeberg only supplies 3,3% of the country’s electricity needs and the supply, as recent weeks have shown, has proven unreliable.
The pro-nuclear anti-solar power policy continues, with the government committing R580-million this year to fund the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) programme, even though the technology is as yet unproven.
Solar power, in contrast, stands to get just R14-million in support from the government over the next three years.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of millions government is pouring into the PBMR, last month told the Mail & Guardian that tax breaks could not be considered for solar power as the government -preferred a level fiscal playing field.
South Africa’s solar power usage is low compared with its international peers, according to a United Nations Development Programme-sponsored study by Professor Dieter Holm of the University of Pretoria.
Solar use per capita is, for instance, 38 and 19 times higher in Israel and Greece.
Israel has 608m2 of installed solar heaters for every 1 000 inhabitants, Greece has 220m2 and South Africa just 16m2.
South Africa’s abysmal installed base needs to be measured against its excellent solar-radiation profile. Ninety-five percent of the African continent has areas with high winter radiation. This falls to 60% for Southern Africa and 21% for South Africa.
Just 4,5% of Australia, 0,5% of the United States and 0,0% of Europe have such high solar-radiation areas, according to Holm.
South Africa was a world leader in solar energy in the early 1980s, but current manufacture is below 1980 levels and half of all units made in the country are exported. Excess capacity is at 300%.
Residential electricity use takes up 35% of peak electricity demand, the most costly part of electricity provision, and experts say solar power could alleviate peak demand by the equivalent amount.
Put another way, residential solar use could reduce the need for the country to build a major coal-fired station.
Energy policy in South Africa has favoured fossils over renewables and big corporates over household-led solutions.
The present crisis is exacerbated, says Holm, by a lack of regulation to ensure that homes and buildings are properly insulated.
The Reconstruction and Developement Programme houses have worsened the crisis, despite warnings, he says, through not being properly -orientated to the north and having no ceilings for insulation.
“Eskom has been electrifying these houses even though they have no energy efficiency,” says Holm.
Unlike many of its peers, which require insulation as part of building requirements, South Africa is -derelict in this regard. “Proper insulation should be law,” says Holm.
This, he says, makes us one of the least efficient users of energy in the world. It takes 15c of energy in South Africa to contribute R1 to gross domestic product, compared with the world average of just 8c.
While South Africa’s electricity costs are very low by world standards, Holm says, the cheap price hides environmental costs including ill-health,
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which at least double the true costs of electricity.
He says the government should be leading by example, ensuring there is energy efficiency in all government buildings. “There should be solar water heaters in all government buildings, including schools, clinics and jails.”
Holm says solar water heaters also reduce the dependence on -centralised energy supply. “It spreads the sources of power and can’t be sabotaged.”
The government acknowledges that solar power could help alleviate the extreme urgency of the present crisis that has seen widescale power outages, particularly in the Western Cape.
It also acknowledges that the present energy investment regime favours -fossil over renewable energies, in that the capital costs of the former have been paid while renewable energies require new investment.
“We are working on a financial formula to level the field between fossil and renewable energies,” says Andre Otto of the Department of Minerals and Energy. “Fossil energies will now get more expensive as new investments are made and the price of electricity goes up.”
Renewable energy costs, driven by innovation, are in the meantime coming down.
The idea, says Otto, is to come up with a mechanism that is fair to both fossils and renewables, which is sustainable in the longer term and -provides investors with more long-term certainty.
Holm says solar water should be subsidised by a cash amount, taking into account factors such as the heat losses of conventional geysers (26%), electrical line losses (10%) and Eskom’s avoided pro rata cost of building new peak demand capacity.
He suggests the subsidised amount could be at least R2 000 a unit; solar water heaters currently range from about R4 000 to R20 000, depending on volume and specification.
The Energy Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the Central Energy Fund, is conducting a study into solar water -heaters sponsored by the Global Environmental Facility. The idea is to promote usage among policymakers and to assist in establishing new standards.
The corporation’s Carmen Armstrong says the South African Bureau of Standards standard for water -heaters needs reviewing.
She says there has been an explosion worldwide in solar use in the past four years as energy prices have climbed. New technology has overcome some of the problems experienced in the past that gave solar heating a bad name, including frost-related problems that plagued some heaters in the South African market.
Armstrong says changes are being forced on the consumer. “If you had no hot water in the Cape for four days, you look for alternatives.”
The energy corporation is importing a rig to test local solar water heaters. It will also run a four–season-long study of solar waters in 500 homes.
Armstrong says economies of scale on solar water heaters amount to about 25% of the capital cost of the heater. She is not convinced about the need for subsidies, pointing to the rapid uptake in solar heaters that is already taking place.
South Africa spent R7,5-billion during the 1980s researching and developing nuclear power. This, by one estimate, would be sufficient to give every household a free solar water heater.
The PBMR has a price tag of R15-billion for development of a test facility to see if the technology works, enough to put two solar water heaters on every building, house, shack and pondok.
Solar heartache
Cape Town would pass a bylaw tomorrow requiring all new buildings to have solar heaters, but the heartache, says the city’s manager of resource conservation Shirene Rosenberg, is a lack of standards and the cost of the units.
This means that regulation will have to wait. You cannot require developers to install equipment when standards are still under development.
Standards will have to be developed, says Rosenberg, around both installation and training.
The solar industry is very small, she says, meaning that prices are relatively high at between R4 500 and R10 000 per unit compared with R2 500 or less for a conventional geyser.
Solar heaters, she says, compare well on performance although in some areas “may need back-up during winter”.
Rosenberg sees solar water heating becoming mandatory for government buildings and says government subsidies should be considered to encourage solar usage.
“We would like to require solar in all new buildings but we are in a Catch-22 while standards are being developed.” She says the city will start the paper-work to write the regulations to be ready at year-end, by which time the standards are expected to be in place.
Has she changed her energy usage since the crisis? “I am more aware of my dormant energy use … I am switching off things like lights in the passage and have my fax switched off when not in use.” — Kevin Davie