Category: Renewables

Solar PV vs solar thermal vs heat pumps: Which is best for water heating?

by Sean Moolman

South Africans have been pummelled by large electricity price increases since electricity shortages and load shedding started in 2008. Electricity prices increased by more than 600% in real money terms over this period – in other words, 6 times more than inflation (see our blog article on this topic).

This rapid and sustained rise in electricity prices, combined with increasing concern about the health and environmental impacts of South Africa’s ‘dirty’ coal-fired electricity, has prompted a search for ways to reduce our dependence on the grid.

Water heating is the single biggest energy consumer in South African households at 40% of total household energy use (ref). That makes it an obvious target for reducing the electricity bill.

South Africa’s National Building Regulations also prescribes minimum energy efficiency standards (through Regulation XA), which requires all new residential properties to derive at least 50% of the annual household water heating requirement from an energy source other than grid electricity.

There are many options for heating water, including:

Solar PV (photovoltaic)
Solar thermal (also called ‘solar geysers’)
Heat pumps
Natural gas or LPG
Biomass
PVT (PV thermal – a combination of solar PV and solar thermal)

With so many options for water heating, the inevitable question is: which is best?

Like most things in life, the answer depends on your priorities and circumstances. Things like location & climate, size of household, budget, reliability of electricity supply and importance of environmental considerations all have an impact on the suitability of available water heating options.

However, there are clear advantages to some options over others. Let’s first look at cost.

When considering the cost of any system, it is important to also consider total lifetime cost. This includes the upfront cost of the system and installation (capital cost), as well as any ongoing costs, such as electricity or fuel costs, maintenance and repair costs. One must also consider the lifetime of the system.

There is a methodology to account for all the above factors called Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). It calculates the total cost per unit of energy (called a kWh or ‘kilowatt-hour’) for different energy options.

The graph below shows the overall cost or LCOE for several water heating options in South Africa as of 2024 (see tab “Levelized Cost of Energy” at ref):

It is clear from the above graph that solar PV and solar thermal water heating are by far the lowest cost options for heating water. The most expensive option is in fact electricity from Eskom or the municipality!

Heat pumps require maintenance and have ongoing electricity costs, while gas is expensive and fluctuates with changes in oil price.

Of course, there are several other considerations when deciding between different water heating options.

The table below compares some of these factors for the three most common alternative water heating options: solar PV, solar thermal and heat pumps.

Factor	Solar PV	Solar Thermal	Heat Pumps
Additional plumbing required?	No	Yes	Yes
Retrofit to standard electric geysers?	Yes	Some designs can be retrofitted	Requires modifications
Noise?	No noise	Some noise (pumped systems)	Yes
Works during power failures?	Yes	Yes for some (thermosiphon & pumped with solar PV)	No
Frost issues?	No	Yes (requires more expensive indirect system)	Reduced performance
Winter performance	Good	Not as good	Not as good
Overheating & water wastage?	No	Yes (stresses system & wastes water)	No
Aesthetics	Good	Not good for thermosiphon & requires stronger roof	Good (if hidden)
Maintenance required?	No	Yes – every few years	Yes – annual
Price	Comparable or less expensive than pumped solar thermal. Less expensive than heat pumps	Thermosiphon solar thermal systems are cheapest	Most expensive
Lifetime	30+ years	10 – 15 years	10 – 15 years
Roof space required	2 – 3 x more than solar thermal	2 – 4 m²	None (but requires space for system)
Lifetime cost of energy	Best	Good	Worst (continue paying for electricity)
Section 12B tax benefit for ‘build to rent’ property developers?	Yes	No	No

Based on cost and all the considerations in the above table, solar PV and solar thermal are clearly preferable to heat pumps. (There are some situations where heat pumps are the only practical option – for example multi-storey buildings with insufficient roof space for solar PV – although carports or other ground mounted solar PV can help overcome this issue).

If upfront cost is the overriding consideration, thermosiphon systems (the systems with the tank on the roof) are the lowest initial cost option. However, when system lifetime and maintenance cost are included in the calculations (in other words, when looking at lifetime cost), solar PV is the most cost effective.

When considering factors such as winter performance, noise, power failures, maintenance requirements, overheating and water wastage, solar PV is preferable to solar thermal.

Whichever option you prefer, it has never made more financial and environmental sense than now to switch to alternative ways of heating water!

Photo of faucets by Dan Smedley on Unsplash

Solar PV and the value of your home: What the experts say.

26Sep

by Matt Capes

About this Article

We offer a new perspective on the long-term value you can create by installing a solar PV system in your home.

To provide context we elaborate on why the reliability, affordability and sustainability of solar PV make it a viable and valuable addition to your home. Trends in the South African residential property market and challenges caused by Eskom’s unreliable and expensive ‘service’ are also discussed.

We then move onto the focal points of this article: Saleability and sales premium.

To get insight into how solar PV systems can improve the saleability of South African homes, we spoke to two local residential property experts: Sandra Gordon, Senior Research Analyst at Pam Golding Properties, and Anthony Stroebel, Head of Business Development at Pam Golding Properties and a Director of the Green Building Council of South Africa.

Our article concludes with a method designed to help you calculate a rough estimate of the potential home sales premium unlocked by installing a solar PV system in your home.

Read time: 4 minutes

Authors: Matthew Capes, Sean Moolman

The Context: Declining Grid Reliability and Increasing Cost

The transition to clean energy is critical to securing a sustainable future for humanity.

In an ideal world this would be at the top of everyone’s to-do list, but each day brings its own challenges.

Especially in sunny South Africa.

For example: How do I manage to keep up with rising electricity and water bills? How do I cook dinner, have a hot shower, or watch some TV with my family, when persistent load-shedding and unexpected blackouts leave us in the dark?

Solar PV has become an increasingly affordable, reliable, and sustainable solution to these issues

*Annexure A includes more detailed information and references for the above illustration*

As a South African you are certainly aware of the challenges Eskom brings. You may also be familiar with the reliability, affordability and sustainability provided by solar PV.

They are solutions to the current challenges faced by many South Africans.

But what about the future?

An important reality often overlooked, is that the solar PV system becomes part of your home once it is installed; solar PV panels are routinely guaranteed at 25 years or more.

International research suggests that it can, however, we sought insights closer to home. A lekker local perspective if you will.

We spoke with Sandra Gordon (Senior Research Analyst at Pam Golding Properties) and Anthony Stroebel (Director at GBCSA, Head of Business Development at Pam Golding Properties) about two forms of value:

Saleability, is the extent to which the home can be easily sold or rented.

Sales premium, is the ability to command a higher sale or rental price.

At the end of this article, we provide a guideline to estimating your own home sales premium.

Let’s begin with saleability.

Gordon and Stroebel note, “Saleability is always relative to that particular moment in time i.e what else is on the market that would be competing for the same buyers…

Certainly, at this point in time, when solar PV has not necessarily reached any degree of critical mass, it is likely that solar homes will be competing with non- solar homes and will definitely therefore have a ‘value edge’.”

Let us elaborate on what that “value edge” is.

Escape from Eskom

Stroebel and Gordon anticipate that “Despite the lack of local research on the matter, the fact that South African electricity tariffs are rising steadily and loadshedding is set to continue for the foreseeable future, it is extremely likely that any measures which reduce utility costs and increase a home’s independence from state utilities would increase its saleability”.

They explain: “With a large, young population – and with utilities becoming more erratic and expensive – new mixed-use developments typically include energy and water efficiency features, solar power and – in some cases – rain harvesting etc.

“These features are undoubtedly attractive to the majority of potential homebuyers and, based on international trends, will be particularly important to younger buyers (who are an important source of housing demand in South Africa)”.

Securing the value of your home means you should consider who the buyers are likely to be and what would attract them to your home.

Millennials in the Market

Research conducted by COGNITION Smart Data found that Millennial home buyers have
“a strong ethic of sustainability” and are looking for “smart homes that are sustainable, efficient and healthy”.

Adds Stroebel, “Millennials want homes with the latest and greatest – and most environmentally compatible – technology.

“According to this research, millennials have a high level of interest in solar technologies to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce their energy bills and increase self-sufficiency. Trends which rising local tariffs and increased instability in delivery are likely to reinforce.”

So, they are young and they want to save the planet… and money too.

Environmental and Financial Sustainability

According to research conducted by CoreLogic, “Surveys have demonstrated that millennials tend to be more environmentally conscious. It is no surprise that they are the ones driving the green revolution in housing.

Solar panels will continue to be more popular on single family homes, each unit with its own battery and power management system”.¹

Green features such as a solar PV system also provide financial sustainability in the form of direct savings on energy costs, improving the saleability of your home and a potential home sales premium.

In a 2018 survey by the Pam Golding Property group: “70.3% of its agents estimated that homes with green features record a price premium of up to 5%, while 54.4% of agents stated that buyers are showing increased interest in green features”.²

According to Ooba, “energy-efficiency has become a buzzword for house hunters – not just because of load shedding, with homeowners around the globe trying to go green. A home that is less dependent on the grid makes for a sound investment opportunity”.³

A smarter and more sustainable home can offer you cost savings and certainty through independence from Eskom. These solutions will undoubtedly make your home more attractive to prospective buyers.

All these factors (and more) combine to create a perception of value of in prospective home buyers’ minds.

As they say in marketing, perception is reality…

So does this perception of enhanced value translate into real value?

Listed in Table 1 (below) are several estimates from reputable international research for quantifying the potential home sales premium as a result of having a solar PV system installed.

Table 1: Sources of international research on solar PV and home sales premium

The Appraisal Journal cited researchers Ruth Johnson and David Kaserman	“value increase of about $20 for every $1 saved on annual energy costs”
A study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	“$5,000 resale value increase for every kilowatt (kW) of solar installed.”
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)	“price premium of up to 4% (depending on size and age/condition of system)”

Reference – ⁴

Using the methods in Table 1 we created a rough guideline on how to estimate your home’s potential sales premium by having a solar PV system installed. *Please see Annexure B*

The estimates from the National Bureau of Economic Research (4%) in Table 1 and the aforementioned Pam Golding Properties survey (5%) are close enough to provide a basis for estimating the potential home sales premium in South Africa.

In the following illustration, we depict a range of potential sales premiums made possible by installing a solar PV system in a South African home.

^*A Please see Methods and Assumptions

Acknowledging the limitations of applying these methods and estimates is pertinent, especially considering the lack of local data.

With that being said, we want to leave you with a final thought.

Put yourself in the prospective buyer’s shoes. Imagine you have narrowed your choices down to two houses on the same street. The selling price is similar and so are the houses. The only major difference is that the owner of one house decided to install a solar PV system.

The houses don’t seem so similar any more… one of them is smarter, more sustainable and offers independence from ever increasing electricity tariffs and protection against load-shedding.

Which house would you be more interested in buying or be willing to pay a premium for?

*We would like to extend a special thank you to Sandra Gordon and Anthony Stroebel. We greatly appreciate your time and effort spent on providing us with invaluable insights.

ANNEXURE A

We know that solar PV can offer independence from Eskom’s unreliable service.

Although we were in lock down most of the year, South Africa still experienced its worst year ever of load-shedding in 2020.A total of 1798 GWh shed and 859 hours of outages.

To put that into perspective, there are 8760 hours in a year… We had load-shedding almost 10% of the time in 2020!

Eskom has not been off to a good start in 2021 either. According to data from Eskom se Push we had already seen 560 hours of load-shedding in the first half of 2021.⁵

Will the situation improve?

According to a technical report by the CSIR, Eskom’s coal fleet’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF) has declined from 94% in 2002 to 57% in 2019. Degrading infrastructure, scheduled maintenance and unexpected breakdowns exacerbate the rate at which the coal fleet’s EAF declines.

This means the situation is likely to get worse (at least, before it gets better).⁶

Solar PV has also become much more affordable, whereas Eskom is progressively more unaffordable. From 2007 to 2019, Eskom’s average electricity tariffs increased by 446%. Over that same time period, the price of solar PV modules decreased by more than 90% from R57,4/W_p to R5,32/W_p. ⁷

For the 2021/2022 year, the average monthly electricity bill is about R1 508 across all income groups in the four major metropolitan areas (Cape Town, Joburg, City of Tshwane and eThekwini).^*B

Solar PV is dramatically more environmentally friendly too.

Several lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions studies show that solar PV, at only 50g of CO2-eq./kWh, has a fraction of the lifecycle GHG emissions of coal (948g of CO2-eq./kWh).⁸

Remember, most of the electricity generated by Eskom comes from coal fired power plants.

These studies analysed the emissions over the entire lifecycle of each technology. From mining of raw materials to manufacturing to operation to decommissioning at the end of its useful life.⁹

ANNEXURE B

*Monthly electricity and solar PV system cost estimates from Table 1 were adjusted to reflect those in South Africa.

Using the methods from Table 1, we begin our calculation with R2 034, the average monthly electricity bill for lower-middle to upper income groups (LSMs 5 to 10) for the 2021/2022 year.^*B

According to the Appraisal Journal, a solar PV system can enable a home sales premium of up to R20 for every R1 saved on annual energy costs.

To calculate potential annual savings, we multiply the R2 034 average monthly electricity bill by 12 months, which equals about R24 000.

Next, we multiply R24 000 by R20 which gives us a potential sales premium of R480 000.

To get to that same R480 000 but using the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory method which estimates R75 000 sales premium for every kW of solar installed – you would need to have about a 7kW solar PV system installed.^{*C and D}

According to a 2021 BusinessTech article, having a 5kW solar PV system installed will cost about R110 000.

This equates to R22 000 per kW installed, thus we can expect the 7kW system mentioned above to cost about R150 000.¹⁰

If our potential sales premium is about R480 000 and the cost of our solar PV system is about R150 000, we arrive at an arbitrage opportunity of R330 000.

We must consider that, if the potential 4% sales premium is R480 000, the total starting price of our home would need to be R12 000 000.

Since most of us don’t have a home valued at R12 million, let us work out the sales premium using the average selling price of houses in South Africa for property in the lower-middle (R638 200) income group to luxury value property (R2 300 000).¹¹

In 2019, the average selling price of houses for the above groups was about R1 300 000. Subsequently, the 4% sales premium would be about R52 000.

REFERENCES

1 – https://www.corelogic.com/intelligence/the-top-four-ways-millennials-are-changing-the-housing-market/

2 – https://blog.pamgolding.co.za/greener-living-rise/

3 – https://www.ooba.co.za/resources/living-off-the-grid/

4 – https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/do-solar-panels-increase-home-value

5 – https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-06-09-dark-times-weve-had-560-hours-of-load-shedding-so-far-in-2021/

6 – https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/11483/Wright_2020_edited.pdf?sequence=7&isAllowed=y

7 – https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices

8 – https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter7.pdf

9 – https://reinvestproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/OR_RE-INVEST_Life-cycle-GHG-emissions-of-renewable-and-non-renewable-electricity.pdf

10 – https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/313854/this-is-how-much-it-will-cost-to-install-solar-panels-in-south-africa-based-on-the-size-of-your-house/

11 – https://www.intergate-immigration.com/blog/cost-of-living-in-south-africa-ultimate-guide/

Methods and Assumptions

*A – The ranges shown in the “Real Value: An Overview of Estimates” illustration, as well as the more detailed sales premium estimation guideline found in Annexure B, are based on rough international data which we further adjusted to make it more relevant in the South African context.

With many variables, some of which have changed drastically over the last few years, these sales premium ranges and estimation guidelines are rough at best. They are only intended to give a basic idea of how a solar PV system can potentially lead to a home sales premium.

*B – Average residential electricity consumption data was obtained from: Goliger, A. and Cassim, A. (14 and 15 July 2017). Tipping Points: The Impacts of Rising Electricity Tariffs on Households and Household Electricity Demand. 3rd Annual Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) 2017 Conference, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Last accessed: 21/08/2017.

*B – Average effective residential electricity tariffs were calculated from the published 2021/22 tariffs of the following four metropolitan municipalities: City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town and Ethekwini, using the average electricity consumption values for LSM5-10 obtained from the above references.

*C – The solar PV systems as discussed in this article include battery back-up. Thus they are either hybrid or off-grid residential solar PV systems. Grid tied systems do have some form of back-up (AC grid power) and provide cost savings with solar energy. However, they do not have back-up in the case of load-shedding. Thus, in our estimations we focused on hybrid and off-grid solar PV systems.

*D – At the time of writing the exchange rate was R15 to the Dollar

PowerOptimal and Electrolux Forge Partnership for Cost-Effective Solar Photovoltaic Water Heating Solutions

26May

by Sean Moolman

Press Release, Johannesburg, South Africa, May 26, 2020. See also Engineering News, Stuff Magazine and Intelligent CIO.

PowerOptimal, a leader in innovative sustainable energy and demand management solutions, has announced that it has partnered with the South African subsidiary of Swedish global appliance giant Electrolux, to bring cost-effective, sustainable solar photovoltaic (PV) water heating solutions to the South African market.

This exclusive partnership will see the PowerOptimal’s Elon solar PV water heating technology sold alongside Electrolux’s leading Kwikot Superline electric water heaters (geysers). With deployment of the PowerOptimal Elon range, a customer can add solar capability to most standard electric geysers, without the need for an inverter or battery. It is the most straightforward and most convenient means to take advantage of solar and traditional power in an existing solution.

“We are very pleased to announce our partnership with PowerOptimal. The company’s sustainable energy solutions align perfectly with our global commitment to sustainability, which is to shape living for the better”, states Mark Moyce, National Sales & Marketing Director at Electrolux South Africa. “By including the Elon into our range of water heating solutions, we are offering developers, builders and all users of geysers a means to take advantage of the abundant solar resource we have in this country at a fraction of the cost.”

According to both parties the partnership makes perfect sense, as the organisations are an excellent cultural fit, the technologies integrate seamlessly, and the technical excellence from both are providing a superior technology solution designed to support and grow mass adoption of sustainable energy.

The innovative PowerOptimal Elon range enables direct connection of solar PV panels to standard electric geysers. It requires no inverter and no batteries, is cost-effective, offers a long lifespan and requires almost no maintenance, making it one of the lowest cost per unit of energy (kWh) solutions for water heating available on the market today.

“We are honoured to partner with Electrolux. The company’s market coverage, quality standards, and market-leading customer service make them the perfect partner for our Elon solution,” states Richard Fearon, CEO at PowerOptimal. “Through this exclusive partnership, all PowerOptimal water heating solutions will be recommended and exclusively sold by Electrolux in South Africa. Together we are looking forward to leveraging the technical capabilities of both companies to bring sustainable energy to a larger market of people, previously inhibited by the sheer cost of solar PV technology.”

PowerOptimal’s Elon range solution can run entirely off the grid, or with grid AC power as backup. In addition, it can be used by property developers for conformance to SANS 10400-XA’s Regulation XA2, which requires that at least 50% of the annual water heating requirement for all new buildings shall be from a source other than grid electricity.

###

About PowerOptimal

PowerOptimal designs, develops and builds sustainable energy solutions that redefine the future of energy. Headquartered in South Africa and founded in 2014, PowerOptimal’s team draws from their collective engineering and commercial expertise to enable global organisations and consumers to reduce energy cost whilst achieving the sustainability goal of net zero carbon. The company’s innovative and patented energy demand management and solar photovoltaic water heating systems are designed to reduce consumption, demand and cost by leveraging the abundant solar resource.

Energy news: first all-solid state battery developed by 94-yr old; India shuns coal; Eskom proposes 20% tariff hike

01Mar

by Sean Moolman

It has been an interesting year in the energy industry so far. Here are some key recent developments:

(more…)

Germany votes to ban the internal combustion engine by 2030, whilst South Africa looks to coal and nuclear

15Jul

by Sean Moolman

While SA seems stubbornly focused on coal (including new private coal-fired power stations), gas and nuclear, Germany is forging ahead with its bold moves to transform into a country with 100% of its energy provided by sustainable and renewable sources.

Already a world leader in incorporating renewables into its national grid through its ‘Energiewende’ programme (with renewables at one point in May 2016 reaching over 90% of the total German power consumption), Germany is not slowing down. In early October, Germany’s Bundesrat adopted a resolution to ban petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030!

Meanwhile, in South Africa (a country with an embarrassingly rich solar resource compared to Germany), Eskom complains of problems managing and integrating a lowly 2.2% renewables (solar and wind – as of first half 2016) into the SA national grid, and has even signaled an unwillingness to sign further power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent power producers. (Recently, the SA Wind Energy Association, SAWEA, has lodged an official compaint with NERSA, the National Energy Regulator of SA, over Eskom’s refusal to sign further PPAs.)

Yes, renewables are intermittent and unpredictable (actually predictably unpredictable and eminently manageable over bigger time scales and geographical spreads!), but through good planning, judicial use of energy storage (the cost of which continues to come down at a brisk pace) and distributed generation, these problems can be overcome and renewables can deliver a very high percentage of total energy production. (According to a July 2016 CSIR and Fraunhofer study, up to 65% solar and wind energy generation share can be achieved in South Africa without any additional storage or significant excess energy / curtailment!).

Experiencing pushback from National Treasury about the immense R1 trillion or more bill for the planned nuclear deal, the Department of Energy has now announced that Eskom will finance the whole programme itself, neatly bypassing the need for Treasury approval. The question is: if (when?) Eskom gets into financial trouble later on, who will have to bail them out? Treasury may be forced to do it at that stage to keep the lights on. (And this means WE, the taxpayer, will ultimately pay.)

These troubling developments are happening at the same time as SA is being praised (deservedly) as a world leader in renewable adoption (see e.g. articles here, here and here). As always we seem to manage to be the best and the worst at the same time! What is certain is that interesting times lie ahead in the business of energy in South Africa…

When will solar and storage be cheaper than Eskom?

01Aug

by Sean Moolman

PLEASE NOTE: This article is from 2015. Current status (2021): If financed via a home loan, solar PV plus storage is less expensive than buying electricity from your municipality in South Africa. According to this research by Sustainable Energy Africa, this was already the case in 2019 for middle-income households.

With the price of solar PV (photovoltaic) panels dropping by more than 10% per year, and Eskom seeking double digit increases for the foreseeable future, when can we expect to see the cost of residential solar PV and battery storage systems to drop below the cost of grid power from Eskom?

We did a simplified calculation to obtain an estimate of when this might happen… And it seems like it will start making financial sense for South Africans to switch within the next 3 years! Thereafter, the financial case for switching will just get stronger every year…

A major barrier to solar PV and battery storage systems is the upfront capital cost. But this could be financed by your bank, and you would be assured of a fixed electricity price for 20 years, compared to continually rising electricity costs if you are tied to the grid. Also, you would be completely free from loadshedding!

How we calculated:

We assumed a typical residential electricity usage of 900 kWh/month, at a current price of R1.40/kWh.
We estimated a current cost of a solar PV + battery storage solution to go off-grid at R200 000, plus an additional R30 000 for a solar geyser and gas oven.
We assumed a 10% increase in Eskom prices and a 10% decrease in solar PV + storage system prices per year. (This is conservative, as discussed above.)
We assumed a 20 year payback period and 10% interest rate on the loan to finance the solar PV + storage system.

Footnote: The graph plots the fixed monthly instalment that you would have to pay if you bought the system in the year as indicated. The instalments over the 20 year period would of course be constant. (So if you bought the system in 2015, fixed monthly instalment would be around R2 200/month over the 20 year period, whilst if you bought it in 2018, fixed monthly instalment would be around R1 600/month over the 20 year period.) Even if you bought the system right now (with the R2 200/month instalment), you will start saving by around 2020, meaning that for at least 15 years subsequently you will be paying less than what you would have if you were still on the grid (and every year the savings would increase due to the increasing price of electricity)…

4 renewable energy records to get excited about

01Jun

by Sean Moolman

Things are really starting to happen on the renewable energy front!

Here are 4 renewable energy records worth getting excited about:
[table]

72%,New Zealand’s 2012 (latest available data) renewables share of total electricity generation http://bit.ly/1z5DJ3d
74%,Germany’s 11 May 2014 renewables share of total electricity generation http://bit.ly/1jcSwFC
0%,…for 75 days (and counting) – Costa Rica not using any fossil fuels for electricity generation http://bit.ly/1FcZdCG
39.1%,Denmark’s wind energy contribution to overall electricity generation in 2014 http://bit.ly/1DFOxs6
[/table]

It is also somewhat of an indictment for South Africa, which is still generating over 90% of its electricity using fossil fuels (including nuclear), and have ambitions for a 1 trillion rand nuclear power expansion. This is whilst South Africa has one of the best solar radiation levels in the world!

Category: Renewables

Solar PV vs solar thermal vs heat pumps: Which is best for water heating?

Solar PV and the value of your home: What the experts say.

About this Article

The Context: Declining Grid Reliability and Increasing Cost

Escape from Eskom

Millennials in the Market

Environmental and Financial Sustainability

PowerOptimal and Electrolux Forge Partnership for Cost-Effective Solar Photovoltaic Water Heating Solutions

Energy news: first all-solid state battery developed by 94-yr old; India shuns coal; Eskom proposes 20% tariff hike

Germany votes to ban the internal combustion engine by 2030, whilst South Africa looks to coal and nuclear

When will solar and storage be cheaper than Eskom?

4 renewable energy records to get excited about

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Category: Renewables

About this Article

The Context: Declining Grid Reliability and Increasing Cost

Escape from Eskom

Millennials in the Market

Environmental and Financial Sustainability

88 12th Avenue, Kleinmond, 7195

All Rights Reserved © 2021 PowerOptimal

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© 2021 PowerOptimal