Featured in Embracing change – 02-2024

Blackouts trigger a PV pivot

Decades of mismanagement have eroded trust in South Africa’s state-owned energy utility, Eskom. Last year, households and businesses suffered daily blackouts of up to 10 hours, or even longer. Solar and battery energy storage are booming but a domestic PV manufacturing industry has yet to materialize.

By

Bryan Groenendaal, Green Building Africa

08 Feb 2024

Ener-G-Africa commissioned its solar panel assembly plant at its Cape Town headquarters in 2022. The facility is led by women and is the second of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. | Photo: Ener-G-Africa

The dire electricity supply situation in South Africa has been the driving force behind a massive uptick in solar-plus-storage hybrid installations by businesses and homeowners alike. This development was boosted by the relaxation of generation license requirements in August 2021, for arrays of up to 100 MW of generation capacity, and by falling solar module …

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