Not so long ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a plan of action for the energy crisis in our country. Of all the points he raised, a focus on solar energy was one of the most prospective for many. It was also announced that SA would become home to one of the world’s largest solar and battery facilities, all adding up to one notion – we’re going solar.
Many Capetonians in particular have had a myriad of questions. How much does going solar cost? What are the solar options available to us? How is the City going to make going solar cheaper?
Making strides toward combating disinformation and answering Capetonians’ all-important questions around the ‘solar scape’, is Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. The Mayor opted to write an opinion piece aiming to answer all things solar in Cape Town, and has shared those sentiments with Cape {town} Etc and our audience.
Here’s what the Mayor penned:
While it is only August, 2022 is already the worst year of load-shedding on record. After a brief period of respite, EskomSePush notifications are once again popping up on our cellphone screens, and the risk of blackouts this week remains high.
The City has embarked on an ambitious plan to end load-shedding over time by making Cape Town less reliant on Eskom. On top of the Steenbras hydroelectric plant, we are currently finalising contracts to buy power from independent power producers (IPPs), running a wheeling pilot project, and investigating energy storage options to optimise the use of renewable energy. We are also steadily working to make Cape Town a more attractive place to invest in roof-top solar generation.
We have just announced that we will be buying as much power as possible from commercial and industrial electricity users who are generating on their roofs and will pay them cash for this power, with a plan to extend this to all residents once we are confident the system works.
My office has been inundated with requests for information from Capetonians who are seriously considering installing solar panels on the roofs of their homes and businesses. Many of them have read conflicting information in the media or on WhatsApp groups. Some are also looking for clarity on the recent change in requirements announced by the City relating to small-scale embedded generation (SSEG).
I hope here to answer some of the most common questions asked by Capetonians, and bring some clarity to a rapidly-changing policy space.
What are the solar options open to Capetonians, and are they affordable?
While some think that “going solar” entails a hugely expensive investment in panels and batteries enough to power one’s entire home, there are a range of more entry-level systems that can nevertheless reduce your reliance on Eskom and even reduce your electricity bill over time.
Many Capetonians have begun their solar journeys through reducing the grid-reliance on their most energy-intensive appliances — their geysers. Solar water heaters (either flat-plate collectors or evacuated tubes) as well as heat pumps are popular, and can be installed for under R20 000, a cost which is recovered over time in the form of savings on electricity bills. These do not need to be registered for authorisation by City.
Some Capetonians are doing more than just lessening the grid-reliance of their geysers, even working to make their entire homes self-sufficient for energy through on-site small-scale embedded generation (SSEG).
A solar SSEG system has two essential components: solar PV panels to generate electric current, and an inverter to render that current useable by household appliances and to manage loads. Some systems include batteries to store electrical energy so it can be used later, when the sun is not shining and for use during loadshedding. The most elaborate of these systems can cost hundreds of thousands of Rand.
SSEG systems fall into two main categories: grid-tied and off-grid systems. Grid-tied systems are connected to the City’s electricity grid through internal wiring on the property, whereas off-grid systems have no connection to the grid.
Another important distinction within the grid-tied category is between feed-in grid-tied systems and non-feed-in, grid-tied systems. The former allows the user to have a bidirectional flow of electricity, both using energy from the City’s grid and feeding excess generated electricity back to the grid. The latter does not allow any feeding of electricity into the grid.
What is the City doing to make solar cheaper for Capetonians?
Larger feed-in, grid-tied SSEG installations involve significant upfront investment costs. As these systems allow generators to sometimes generate more energy than they need and feed this excess energy back into the grid, they can become an important source of energy for the City as we work to end load-shedding. The City therefore has a policy to incentivise feeding into the grid.
By paying users for the excess energy they feed back to the City, the time required for the system to “pay for itself” by recovering the cost of the upfront investment is reduced. The shorter this period, we believe, the more Capetonians will make the investment.
A rate of 78.98c/kWh for the 2022/23 financial year has been approved, to be paid by the City to generators for the energy they produce. This is called a feed-in tariff. On top of this amount, we add a further incentive of 25c/kWh. We are looking seriously at increasing this incentive amount over time.
Until now, feed-in customers were obliged to buy more electricity in a year from the City than they sold back, so that they were ‘net consumers’. They were paid for the electricity they produced by means of a credit against their usage bill. This policy has now been changed.
Commercial and industrial producers will now be allowed to sell all their excess electricity back to the grid, even if this is more than they use. We will pay them cash (not just credits) for every kWh they sell to us.
We have decided to prioritise commercial and industrial users in the early phases of this policy change because they tend to have the largest roofs and therefore generation capacity. It is also important to start with a limited number of users, so that technical and administrative issues can be identified and fixed before more people are affected. This policy will be extended to residential users in the next 24 months if everything goes according to plan.
Who is required to register their solar PV system with the City, and why?
By nature, energy supply infrastructure is dangerous to the people who work on it, who risk being shocked to death if they touch a live wire or if a component of the system malfunctions in their presence. We need to ensure, therefore, that our City Energy staff know whether a wire is live or not before they come into contact with it. There are a number of other technical reasons, too, why the City must be able to monitor all activity on the grid to ensure the grid’s integrity.
All SSEG systems, whether off-grid or grid-tied, are therefore required to register their systems with the City. It is important that we are able to ensure that off-grid systems are, in fact, isolated from the grid. For grid-tied systems, it is essential that we are able to certify that these systems pose no safety risk to our infrastructure and staff, and that unscrupulous contractors have not installed systems that don’t meet technical specifications.
All residents should be aware that the City does not charge a fee for the registration of a solar SSEG system. Some residents are of the mistaken view that we do charge a registration fee; this is because there are contractors in Cape Town who offer registration as an add-on service to the installation of the entire system. However, it is quite possible for residents to fill out these forms and submit them themselves, without incurring the extra costs of a middleman.
What fees does the City charge SSEG customers?
All SSEG customers who want to feed energy into the grid must purchase an AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) meter from the City, at a once-off cost of R10 770.90 (inclusive of VAT, depending on the Voltage and current requirements of the property). This is a bi-directional metering device that allows accurate and remote reporting of the amounts of energy consumed and generated.
Our team is also now considering cheaper versions of this meter which still meet our quality requirements. We hope to be able to bring this cost down further in the months ahead. There is a monthly access charge of R96,20 inclusive of VAT for users with AMI meters, which contributes to the special infrastructure needed to support these devices and the more complex
systems they monitor.
Our strategy to end load-shedding is one that is constantly being developed and refined, and we appreciate all feedback from residents who have ideas on how to improve our approach. While I hope that I have answered here many of the questions Capetonians have been asking about private solar systems, anyone who still has queries is encouraged to get in touch.
Residents can direct all comments and queries directly to my office via email to [email protected].
Also read:
Loadshedding reportedly to blame for discoloured water supply
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