{"id":17791,"date":"2023-10-03T13:39:05","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T13:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/?p=17791"},"modified":"2023-10-03T13:39:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T13:39:05","slug":"south-africas-solar-energy-landscape-opportunities-and-missteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/south-africas-solar-energy-landscape-opportunities-and-missteps\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s solar energy landscape \u2013 opportunities and missteps"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Svilen Voychev, <\/em>Valsa Trading\u2019s CEO, with 15 years\u2019 experience in the solar photovoltaic (PV) market in South Africa, discusses the \u2018state of the solar nation\u2019.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are entering the 15th<\/sup> year of loadshedding and one might have thought that the renewables market might have been further along in its development than it is, but what has given, certainly solar PV such a boost is that loadshedding has become much worse, the realisation that the challenge won\u2019t be solved in the short-term and increasing concerns on climate change – and the extensive uptake has meant that component prices for solar installations have become more affordable.<\/p>\n

Loadshedding has developed from being a minor inconvenience to a national calamity, having an impact of the country\u2019s GDP, exports and ability to carry out day to day business. It has had a major impact on just about all aspects of our lives, and without doubt, contributed to a steep rise in the cost of living \u2013 a good example is supermarkets having to recover the hundreds of millions of Rands spent on diesel for generators, just to keep the lights on, refrigeration equipment and tills operating.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all bad news and our climate favours solar PV – we have lots of space for the large-scale solar farms and the nature of solar energy generation means that there have been advances in battery storage to ensure continuity of supply when the sun doesn\u2019t shine.<\/p>\n

The solar market isn\u2019t yet saturated and unlikely to be so for some time, so there is space for newcomers especially in the residential market, but the low barriers to entry, lack of regulation and consumer ignorance make fertile ground for the \u2018bakkie brigade\u2019.<\/p>\n

Additionally, this coupled with the aforementioned challenges faced in the country have spawned a multi-billion Rand frenzy, and like most \u2018new\u2019 endeavours, it has attracted its fair share of opportunists hoping to cash in in what they think is an easy way to make a quick buck.<\/p>\n

To address the lack of regulation, many of the larger suppliers of quality components, including ourselves, have either singly or in collaboration with others, established grass roots installer training courses to add some professionalism to the industry. In some cases, both established and would be installers are provided with incentives such as discounts on quality components upon successfully completing training courses.<\/p>\n

Established companies in the electrical and electronics industries have embarked upon local manufacturing but at this stage there is no government support and we are unlikely to counter the massive production and research and development capabilities of mainly Chinese manufacturers \u2013 some good and others providing products of questionable quality. There needs to be a regulatory framework that protects local manufacturers to stop the profits from flowing out of the country \u2013 that would be an incentive for businesses to invest, and create jobs through local manufacture.<\/p>\n

Our market compared with others on a global scale is small, which provides limited opportunities for local manufacturing, but there are opportunities outside our borders in Africa, although restricted due to affordability and national initiatives of developing other sources of power – gas to power for example.<\/p>\n

\n

The supply market is cyclical \u2013 that is demand fluctuates causing an oversupply situations and reduced prices. A recent example, when it appeared that Eskom were getting on top of loadshedding with fewer outages, caused a dip in demand in the residential market. Similarly, the announcement by major metros, such as Cape Town, that independent power producers and \u2018wheeling\u2019 traders will be able to supply power to counter Eskom\u2019s loadshedding, has caused hesitation in those who had made the decision to go solar.<\/p>\n

The key to stability and longevity in this market is to procure quality components and ensure continuity of supply \u2013 experience and reliability will always shine through. It is important to enter into procurement contracts with reliable, quality manufacturers while developing locally manufactured components and systems supported by technically qualified and properly trained personnel.<\/p>\n

When partnering with a PV Solar supplier it is important to ensure that they are not just \u2018box movers\u2019 and don\u2019t follow the spikes in demand and up and down nature of supply and demand, but are in it for the long run by growing their business through quality and professional procurement practices, supporting local manufacturing, collaborating with others in the industry and ensuring installers are properly trained \u2013 not just in the essential technical aspects of solar PV but also in how to run a successful business.<\/p>\n

That will bring about confidence with installers and the public at large and indicate to government and the regulatory bodies to take notice that the solar PV industry has got its act together.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

About Valsa Trading<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valsa Trading (Pty) Ltd, established in 2009, is a specialist photovoltaic (PV) solar turnkey supplier. The company\u00a0 designs, manufactures and supplies PV solar mounting solutions for all roofs, carports, ground, facade, and floating applications.<\/p>\n

That, coupled with an extensive range of PV Solar products including panels, inverters, batteries, cables, switchgear, pumps, drives etc. adds to its\u00a0 comprehensive offering for all PV Solar requirements to suit residential, corporate, or industrial needs.<\/p>\n

\n

Media Contact<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Charles Poulter<\/p>\n

Account Manager: SWM Communications<\/p>\n

Mobile | 076\u00a0812 8429<\/p>\n

Email | charles@swmcommunications.co.za<\/p>\n

\n

Valsa Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zhante Hatting<\/p>\n

Marketing Supervisor: Valsa Trading<\/p>\n

Mobile | +27 69\u00a0589 8007<\/p>\n

Email |\u00a0 marketing@valsa.co.za<\/p>\n

Office | (0)11 794 1306<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are entering the 15th year of loadshedding and one might have thought that the renewables market might have been further along in its development than it is, but what has given, certainly solar PV such a boost is that loadshedding has become much worse, the realisation that the challenge won\u2019t be solved in the short-term and increasing concerns on climate change – and the extensive uptake has meant that component prices for solar installations have become more affordable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","category-valsa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17792,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17791\/revisions\/17792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}