The Assistance to the Poor (ATTP) programme in South Africa grants all citizens who qualify a certain amount of water and electricity for free. In Nelson Mandela Bay that allocation is above the mandated amount and includes a basket of other concessions around sewage and rates as well.
As a country we do a fairly decent job of discouraging people to look after themselves with our numerous grants and concessions that only just allow our indigent fellows to keep their heads above water. We need a social grant system that allows our citizens to regain their pride and feel part of the greater good.
Most of our poorer citizens qualify for ATTP, a house and a grant. Those RDP homes all come supplied with a Solar Geyser. As an aside – the most efficient solar panels AND geysers operate when installed as follows: North facing and at an angle equal to the latitude upon which they are sited. In Gqeberha the latitude is 33 degrees 57 minutes and 39 seconds South. In contrast the latitude in Pretoria is 25 degrees 44 minutes and 46 seconds South.
The most optimal angle for solar panels in South Africa is your latitude plus 15 degrees adjustment for winter and minus 15 for summer. The sweet spot average is then the latitude. Why? This angle allows the suns rays to strike the solar panels at 90 degrees. Think about it this way – on the equator a flat roof is best.
South African Architects divide roof pitch into three categories:
- Low – 17 to 25 degrees.
- Normal – 26 to 35 degrees
- Steep – 36 to 45 degrees.
So, if you have a ‘normal’ roof then your solar installation should be pretty good in terms of production.
On the other hand RDP houses all seem to have a roof pitch a bit on the low side which is not the most glaring problem heavily affecting solar production. How many solar geysers have you seen facing South? I would wager many. Our efforts to provide the poor with decent hot water seem to be failing somewhat AND increasing the demand on the free electricity allocation.
PROPOSAL: Let’s ‘rent’ the roofs of ATTP beneficiaries:
- It is estimated that most RDP houses use in the region of 200 units of electricity per month. Lets say 300 units per month, shall we?
- An RDP home is 50 square meters in size and should offer around 25 square meters of rooftop space.
- That amount of rooftop space will fit a maximum of 10 solar panels.
- Using 10 x 450 watt solar panels will give a potential of 4.5 Kw’s of renewable energy.
- Mate that to a 5 Kw inverter and we will get an average production of around 800 units of electricity per month.
- That gives around 500 units of EXCESS energy to pump into the grid and INCLUDES all the household usage too.
- Install a central router to service any number of installations nearby to monitor and maintain the installations.
- Make an arrangement with the homeowner that they will get DOUBLE the ATTP allocation if their solar installation remains untouched and continues to generate a pre-determined average per month.
- Estimates point to around 3 Million RDP homes in South Africa. Lets say that 20% of them will qualify for a free solar installation.
- Each day then the 600 000 ‘lucky’ homes will pump 300 Megawatts back into the system -equal to 1800 Megawatts for a 6 hour day and just short of enough to stop loadshedding level 2.
- Add an incentive into the mix for other people to also gain a small incentive if they pump energy back into the grid and the numbers get better.
Loadshedding then becomes yesterday’s problem.
At around R80 000 per 5 Kw Solar Grid Tie only installation the total project will cost R48 000 000 000.00 – yup R48 BILLION. BUT that pales in comparison with the estimated costs of Medupi and Kusile power stations which combined are in the R1000 Billion region. That money was enough to complete 12.5 Million 5 Kw Installations which, if they only contributed 200 units per month to the grid would contribute 2 500 Megawatts (NB as an EXCESS).
Put it another way – if we had 12.5 Million Solar Panel installations they would generate 10 000 Megawatts of electricity per month. At R80 000 each per installation the total spend would be R1 000 Billion. Our Stage 8 loadshedding requires us to shed up to 8 000 Megawatts. BOTH Medupi and Kusile will generate 4 800 Megawatts. You do not need me to do THAT maths for you.
Pot Sweeteners:
- Allow the RDP home owner to ‘sell’ the electricity on to his neighbours via a prepaid electricity meter scheme which gives a percentage of the total spend back to the government implementing agency.
- OR – provide the solar electricity at a reduced price per unit via a prepaid meter after the allocation is used up.
In both ways above the model could eventually become self sustainable, engender pride in the homeowner and drastically reduce the ‘Eskom Tax’ burden on the beleaguered South African taxpayer.
Loadshedding Stages Explained:
- Stage 1: Requires load-shedding of up to 1 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 2.5 hours.
- Stage 2: Requires load-shedding of up to 2 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 2.5 hours.
- Stage 3: Requires load-shedding of up to 3 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 2.5 hours.
- Stage 4: Requires load-shedding of up to 4 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 2.5 hours.
- Stage 5: Requires load-shedding of up to 5 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 4.5 hours.
- Stage 6: Requires load-shedding of up to 6 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 4.5 hours.
- Stage 7: Requires load-shedding of up to 7 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 4.5 hours.
- Stage 8: Requires load-shedding of up to 8 000 MW. Power outage periods (per neighborhood) last up to 4.5 hours.