South Africa

South Africa’s new rebate program for private rooftop solar arrays has a budget of ZAR 4 billion ($216.7 million). It does not cover inverters, battery storage systems, or installation costs. However, some industry analysts have already criticized the scheme for failing to fully address the country’s load-shedding problem.

Chigozie Nweke-Eze is an economist, geographer and founder of Integrated Africa Power. He sat down with pv magazine to discuss green hydrogen development in Africa, from the project pipeline to the necessity of “additionality” when it comes to ensuring hydrogen doesn’t become yet another exploited African resource.

Chanda Nxumalo, the chairperson of the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA), speaks with pv magazine about the prospects of the South African energy market, its new regulations and the bright future for the PV sector. Nxumalo also addresses the challenges and opportunities for battery storage, green hydrogen and women in renewables.

The South African government has provided figures on “embedded generation projects” that are currently under development in the country. It also revealed that it will soon launch a tender for big storage projects.

Solar installations across Africa hit 949 MW in 2022, bringing cumulative capacity past the 10 GW mark, according to the African Solar Industry Association (AFSIA). While that may seem underwhelming for such a huge region, it shows that countries are taking big steps toward realizing the entire continent’s PV potential.

South Africa scientists have developed an integrated, solar-powered heat pump and refrigerator for use by food vendors in sub-Saharan Africa. The dual system is powered by two 90 W solar modules and repurposes waste heat.

South African scientists have designed a novel gravity energy storage system that uses linear electric motors to vertically move multiple solid masses to store and discharge electrical energy. They say its levelized cost of storage (LCOS) is $137.20/MWh, but with efficiency improvements, it could drop to about $100/MWh

South African utility Eskom aims to develop 35 MW/140 MWh of battery storage capacity at its substations in Eastern Cape province. The tender will also accept bids for a 1.5 MW/6 MWh storage system, plus 2.04 MW of solar PV at another substation. Eskom started building the country’s first battery energy storage system (BESS) last week.

South Africa selected five solar projects with a combined capacity of 860 MW in its latest auction. However, the authorities did not select any wind projects from the 4.1 GW of bids that were submitted. The final average price for PV was ZAR 0.490 ($0.02808)/kWh.

Talesun has opened a new production facility with ARTsolar to manufacture high-efficiency, large-format PV modules. They said they might install a second 500 MW production line in the near future.