Energy
BRIGHT FUTURE FOR SOLAR AMIDST LOAD SHEDDING WOES
By Rein Snoeck Henkemans , managing director at Alumo Energy
Following a year of record load shedding , South Africans are questioning just how concerned we should be about blackouts in 2022 and beyond .
The simple answer is very and many sources ’ recommendation is that business and consumers should all consider taking the leap in investing in solar solutions .
Recent figures released by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR ) show that far from gradually stabilising or easing , incidents of load shedding have skyrocketed over the past 15 years . Notably , a record amount of 2455 gigawatts per hour ( GWh ) was shed from the national grid between January and November last year compared to just 176 GWh in 2007 , which means that South Africa has suffered a massive increase in load shedding of nearly 1300 %, since this was first implemented .
The reality is that South Africa ’ s energy infrastructure lacks the generation capacity to meet the demands of our economy – a challenge which has been compounded by aging and poorly maintained power plants prone to breakdowns . The development of new infrastructure is also very stifled . The positive news , however , is that Eskom ’ s inability to regularly operate at full capacity , or to bring sufficient new generation capacity on board to support our burgeoning population , means that South Africans are quite literally taking power back into their own hands by turning to solar as an attractive , independent energy alternative .
With many employees still working from home , and businesses gradually recovering from the impacts of the pandemic , solar is further finding increasing favour as a reliable and affordable power solution .
Many providers too saw at least a doubling in queries for solar solutions in 2021 from 2020 and so the solar industry is experiencing phenomenal growth , which as a country is not only a positive for
www . hvacronline . co . za RACA Journal I June 2022 57