Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa

In early August, South Africa's national utility, Eskom, convened a workshop for solar water heating manufacturers, suppliers and installers. The primary objective of the workshop was to advise the industry on what to do about the remaining budget for the solar water heating rebate scheme, as well as which immediate steps to take until the end of the 2011-2012 financial year. Quality issues of currently installed systems were also discussed (see the attached presentation). The chart shows the strong increase in the number of applications for non-pressurised (NP) solar water heaters.
Source: Eskom

There has been no decision yet regarding the future of the national residential incentive programme by South African utility Eskom: As of 12 July 2011, the utility counted a backlog of all in all 53,208 applications. This is more than half of the number of all applications approved since the beginning of the programme in 2007 (84,214 application). 76 % of the applications that are still pending approval deal with open loop systems. Closed loop systems make up the smaller proportion, with 12,644 still pending applications.

The number of monthly installed and subsidised solar thermal installations in South African households increased significantly towards the end of 2010. According to Eskom, energy utility and administrator of the national residential subsidy programme, 4,914 claims were paid in December. This compares favourably to the approximate 250 systems that were installed in the same period in 2009, and represents a significant increase as can be seen from the graph. Eskom is not updating the above chart anymore with monthly figures.
Source: Eskom/SESSA

In the middle of June, during the World Cup in South Africa, the significant drop in temperature around Johannesburg did not only cause some football players to catch a cold in the meantime, but one of these frosty winter nights also destroyed several hundred solar systems in the region.
Source: http://de.fifa.com

Solar thermal installation in Soweto: Eskom's Renewable Energy Portfolio Manager, Cedric Worthmann, said that, “Our aim is to encourage as many South Africans as possible to move away from using electric geysers and replace them with solar heated systems instead”.
Source: www.solarheat.co.za

Hosting the next ISES Congress: The 30th ISES Solar World Congress will be held in Kassel, Germany, from 28 August to 2 September 2011. This year´s resolution recommends that governments worldwide should establish a law to increase the use of renewable energies in the heating and cooling sector.
Photo: ISES

When it comes to installing solar thermal systems, skilled workers are still rare in South Africa – a fact that the training centre WaterSmith tries to change. The training facility is offering its first solar water heater courses.
Photo: Zingaro

Dylan Tudor-Jones was a founding member of the Solar Water Heating Division of the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA). Solarthermalworld.org spoke with him at the International Solar Energy Society Solar World Congress 2009 in Johannesburg in October.
Photo: Hanna Schober

Solar water heaters possess a huge potential in South Africa. “Some 100,000 houses are built every year, 30,000 homes are renovated, and about 400,000 electric geysers are replaced,” Thulani Gcabashe, head of Head of Energy Building Africa Holding, explained at the national solar water heating workshop in Midrand, South Africa, this February.

90 % of South Africa’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations. The fourth quarter of 2007, however, started with massive power cuts as electricity supply fell behind demand. Eskom, the largest electricity supplier in Africa, the South African Government and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), began to implement alternative and renewable energy programmes a year later. Among these is a rebate programme for solar water heaters.