Did 100 days without load shedding kill South Africa’s solar industry is the question on some people’s lips as they start switching off their inverters and putting them in storage with their generators. Some wonder if they should have taken out that loan to pay for solar. Was it all for nothing?
To put things into perspective, let us look at Jaltech, which provides long-term solar finance through power purchase agreements. It has issued more than 400 solar proposals to businesses along with its solar installer partners in the past year. These proposals were valued at over R4.1 billion, averaging more than R120 million per week over the past 14 weeks.
“Of the R4.1 billion issued, only 15% have progressed to date, half of which we expect will be finalised within the next 4 to 6 weeks. If load shedding was still around, we estimate the amount would be double or triple,” says Sacks.These businesses opted for power purchase agreements, enabling them to bypass the initial costs of the solar system and pay only for the electricity generated.
Is there still a future in solar? Sacks is adamant that there is. “The adoption of solar will continue to grow in the South African market, as energy consumers continue to realise the cost-benefit of solar. Additionally, solar energy producers are capitalising on electricity arbitrage for their customers.