Solar power as a solution

South Africa is the fifth-biggest producer of coal, which is burned to generate most of the country’s electricity but solar and renewable power sources are gaining ground fast.

These alternative sources of power have attracted more than R193 billion in investmnet since 2011, helping helping the government ease blackouts. Meanhile the two coal-burning power plants first approved in 2007, now costing $17 billion, are over budget and more than seven years behind schedule.

This experience shows how renewable energy is spreading across the country and the developing world, opening new markets with a reputation for ease of use and massive cost savings. Solar power is this challenging the traditional selling point for the most widely-used fossil fuel, which prides itself on being the easiest way to boost power generating capacity.

Where in the past renewable energy sources were thought to be complicated systems that cost too much, only in the purview of the rich the market is ever more coming to realise that this new age for solar power has dawned. Cheap and everlasting.

Solar power is a lone beacon op hope in the otherwise dark South African power generating landscape. With Eskom struggeling to keep the lights on due to aging infrastructure and unforseen brekadowns.

Renewable installations, meanwhile, are surging in South Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson in April accelerated the programme, which follows the country’s National Development Plan. Auctions first started in 2011 under a framework the government designed with developers and banks

The government will procure over 6 000 megawatts of wind, solar and hydro plants in South Africa, as part of the biggest surge in power capacity since the 1980s. The nation saved 4 billion rand in fuel costs and avoided some blackouts in the first half of 2015, according to a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a Pretoria-based research group that found renewables may be the cheapest way for the nation to prevent shortages.

Photovoltaic (PV) systems use solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. A system is made up of one or more PV panels, a DC/AC power converter (also known as an inverter), a racking system that holds the solar panels, electrical interconnections, and mounting for other components. Optionally it may include a maximum power point tracker (MPPT), battery system and charger, solar tracker, energy management software, solar concentrators or other equipment.

A small PV system may provide energy to a single consumer, or to an isolated device like a lamp or a weather instrument. Large grid-connected PV systems can provide the energy needed by many customers.

The electricity generated can be either stored, used directly (island/standalone plant), or fed into a large electricity grid powered by central generation plants (grid-connected/grid-tied plant), or combined with one or many domestic electricity generators to feed into a small grid (hybrid plant).

Contact One Energy today on 0861 4328 464 or on our website http://www.oneenergy.co.za for a quote on solar power today.

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