Housing in Southern Africa May 2016

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May 2016
Energy Efficiency, Green Building & IBTs
The product offers home owners
in complexes and estates ac-
cess to affordable solar energy
over a 10-year contract period. “The
single most important thing about
SolarAfrica’s offering is the ability for
customers to circumvent the upfront
capital which, until now, has always
been the biggest barrier to entry,”
explains Johan Pienaar, Commercial
Director SolarAfrica.
According to SolarAfrica, the big-
gest barrier to entry on solar energy
has been the significant upfront costs
amounting to more than 80% of the
total operating costs, which has put
solar ‘out of reach’ for many South
Africans.
“South Africa has one of the largest
sectional titlemarkets in the world. It
makes sense that we provide an alter-
native solar solution when we have
such a large market relying on the
national energy grid,” says Pienaar.
SolarAfrica will install, fully oper-
ate and maintain the solar panels to
the sectional titlemarket. An innova-
tive funding model enables custom-
ers to acquire solar panels without
the upfront capital cost, whereby
costs are then reclaimed over the 10
year lifespan of the agreement.
The service charge
SolarAfrica targets sectionals
SolarAfrica has launched its new solar energy solution for the
sectional title market in South Africa.
offered by the SolarAfrica solution is
R1,38 Kw/ph andwill increase only by
one percent more than the consumer
price index. By comparison, the
National Energy Regulator of South
Africa approved an Eskom rate hike
of 9,4% this year and this is expected
to rise by approximately 8%each year
in perpetuity.
“The results speak for them-
selves,” explains Pienaar. “Body
corporates can expect to save 15%
- 20% of their energy costs which are
directly reflected through a reduction
in its levies and this financial model
means that customers are only pay-
ing for the performance of the solar
solution.”
Further to this, users have access
to an online real-time data service,
which provides visibility to customers
on their energy usage, allowing them
tomonitor andmanage their energy.
Some of themain reasons formov-
ing to solar energy include the desire
to hedge costs against those of the
increasing energy prices, as well as a
growing awareness for environmen-
tal sustainability.
“There is amove todisrupt the cur-
rent energy production infrastructure
in South Africa, and also globally.
Traditional systems of national power
grids are being replaced by the
concept of distributed generation,”
added Pienaar.
The reality is that distributed
generation is the way of the future.
In South Africa, electricity prices
have risen since 2008. South Africa
is among the top ten countries in the
world ideal for renewable energy us-
age, indicating that the appetite for
alternative energy solutions already
exists.
In South Africa, standby power us-
age sits between 5% - 6%a significant
proportion of which is used during
the day. Solar energy therefore al-
lows South Africans to operate as
usual without the incurring the costs
associated with this.
But as solar takes off, this also
means we can expect a rush of in-
novations and a decrease in price on
the technology itself over the next few
years. The SolarAfrica solution is built
on a modular system that enables
solar optimiser technology, which
means it is easily scalable. Add-ons
such as energy storage, specifically
batteries canbe featured as new tech-
nologies emerge.
“We are extremely excited about
this offering,” says Pienaar. “Our
goal at Solar Africa is to make solar
energy accessible to South Africans
by building simple energy solutions
that positively impact the world. We
are now able to do this.”
For further information contact
SolarAfrica on 087 095 0553 or email
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