Loadshedding has been a reality in South Africa for over 15 years… and so far in 2022, we have had 574 hours of loadshedding already, which equates to 24 days without power! Is it time to go solar?
Johannesburg, South Africa (23 May 2022) – We did it, we took the plunge and invested in a solar system for our house, and yes, it was a huge expense, but it is possibly one of the best things we have done for our home, business, mental health and the environment.
Both my partner and I work from home and need electricity to keep our businesses moving forward. We installed an inverter many years ago, which worked like a dream, but when the batteries started losing power, we started investigating alternative options to keeping the lights on.
The reality is we’ve been living with loadshedding in South Africa for over 15 years now, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon. According to data collected by the EskomSePush team, so far in 2022, we have had 574 hours of loadshedding already, which equates to 24 days without power.
What is Loadshedding?
The South African Energy Crisis started in the later months of 2007 and continues to this day. The government-owned national power utility and primary power generator, Eskom, and various parliamentarians attributed these rolling blackouts to insufficient generation capacity. They gave it a name – Loadshedding.
With a reserve margin estimated at 8% or below, such “loadshedding” is implemented whenever generating units are taken offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fuelling. According to Eskom and government officials, the solution requires the construction of additional power stations and generators, which doesn’t seem to be happening.
Corruption and mismanagement of Eskom, most notably during the Jacob Zuma administration, have exacerbated the energy crisis. Incompetence and neglect by Eskom staff have also contributed to ongoing power supply problems.
As of 2008 big companies with international investors were also affected by the electricity crisis and announced these effects to the international community, bringing the situation to the attention of potential foreign investors. Just 7 years later and loadshedding – in the first six months of 2015 – was estimated to have cost South African businesses R13.72 billion in lost revenue with an additional R716 million spent by businesses on backup generators. This cost has increased exponentially since then.
In recent years, many small business owners said that loadshedding was the number one challenge that they faced. In a small business sentiment report of 3,984 small business owners, 44% said that they had been severely affected by loadshedding with 85% stating that it had reduced their revenue.
Inverter and Batteries
Working from home – even pre-COVID – meant that we needed the wifi, plugs and lights to “keep the lights on”, and so we put our house on a “basic” inverter and battery system (four huge deep cycle batteries) around six years ago, which was a great way to get through loadshedding and worked like a dream.
The system switched over automatically and could power some of the necessities of the house (not fridges, geysers, oven, kettle, microwave or pool) for up to 10 hours, but over the years, the batteries couldn’t hold their charge anymore, and more frequent power cuts meant they weren’t able to fully charge either (lead-acid/gel batteries typically need replacement every 3-4 years or quicker the more they are used).
The Details
The System: A “basic” inverter and battery system (four huge deep cycle batteries).
Cost: Was around R60,000 (but this was six years ago).
Upside: Cheaper than going the entire solar route while still providing a solution for loadshedding.
Downside: Not everything stays powered – we only had some plugs, wifi and lights connected. The batteries were similar to car batteries and lost their charge over time. Six years after installation, and the system could only stay on for around 45 minutes during loadshedding. On top of that, you still pay for 100% of your power.
Going Solar
We started investigating “going solar” over a year ago. What was difficult for us is that many solar suppliers seemed to add the *Estate Tax onto the quote when hearing that we lived in an Estate. And a big fear we faced was the unknown… what is a Lithium-Ion Battery? Do Solar panels differ because of their make? What inverter brand is the best in the market? And does our home need a “Rolls Royce” solar system, or a great quality one that not only works… but works well?
And so our journey began, and we were horrified with some of the quotes.
R400,000, R450,000, R500,000.
It seemed like a better option would be to just replace the batteries of the inverter system and continue without loadshedding for however many years. That was until I spoke to a friend from the south of Johannesburg – where I grew up – who had a solar system installed in his home. He was just as horrified when he heard the prices we had been quoted and suggested that I get in touch with the company he had used.
The team arrived, looked at what we had, used a drone to see our roof specs and then gave us three quotations the very next day for a system that could grow with our needs.
It’s a Smart Hybrid Solar System which means it will use solar first, batteries second and Eskom last – and the entire house is connected, but the system is able to supplement and give any spare energy it has to the heavy-electricity items on the Eskom grid if needs be.
The options were:
- 3 batteries: Enough power to keep the house on for at least 6 hours of loadshedding (or no sun).
- 5 batteries: Enough power to keep the house on for at least 12 hours of loadshedding (or no sun).
- 8 batteries: Enough power to keep the house on for at least 18 hours of loadshedding (or no sun).
We opted for a 5 battery system, which included 11 solar panels. Our area has a substation that doesn’t really like loadshedding and has been known to switch off for a couple of hours/days every now and then.
The Details
The System: 1x Victron MultiPlus-II 48V 5kVa 1-Phase Smart Hybrid Inverter, with 11 Solar Panels and 5 x 3.55kWh PylonTech NewGen Lithium Batteries.
Cost: R267,869 (ex VAT).
Upside: Not only are we completely avoiding loadshedding, but our electricity bill will be next to nothing as well. If you consume within the range it is able to generate from the sun. Whatever is generated by the sun, is free and costs nothing. It’s smart, it has an APP and you can track your usage and yield in real-time anywhere in the world. The batteries have a 10-year warranty and a 15+ year lifespan. You can easily expand the system as your needs grow
Downside: It’s an expensive capital outlay but in just a few short years of not paying Eskom, we will have paid off the entire system.
It was a significant investment – one that we had to plan and save for – but one that we felt we needed to take, and I am so thankful we did.
It’s Sunday and I am working while writing this, and we are currently in Stage 3 loadshedding – which means our area will be switched off for a minimum of 7,5 hours – but not our house, and the Good Things will continue to be written, thanks to our new solar system.
To note, this is not a sponsored post, and we paid the full price, but I do want to share the company’s details as they were professional and took the time to understand exactly what we wanted and, more so, help us with what we needed. They also didn’t add the dreaded “Estate Tax”.
Feel free to contact Tiaan Coetzer from Interactive IT on solar@interactiveit.co.za.
Oh, tell them the Good Things Guy sent you.
*Estate Tax is when companies/brands or suppliers find out you live in an “Estate” and hike up the price as they believe you can afford to pay more. It’s not a real tax, but it really does happen.
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Bro, you got shafted. I spent exactly one hundred thousand less and I got the same backup you got. You could have saved by using a different inverter (Victron is the Rolls Royce but other brands provide the same functionality and warranty at a much better price). Batteries should have cost you around R60k – R70k and panels depend on the output. But absolutely agree it’s the way to go.