{"id":150,"date":"2015-01-06T07:32:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T05:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/solar.straton.org.za\/?p=150"},"modified":"2015-01-06T07:32:45","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T05:32:45","slug":"eskom-playing-catch-up-to-nelson-mandela-bay-over-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/eskom-playing-catch-up-to-nelson-mandela-bay-over-solar-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskom playing catch up to Nelson Mandela Bay over solar power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg – South Africa\u2019s energy regulator is looking at a framework that would enable homes and businesses to receive credits for feeding surplus power they generate from rooftop solar panels back into the constrained electricity grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is growing interest from South African electricity customers to install rooftop photovoltaic systems in order to reduce their electricity bill and supplement their consumption,\u201d the Pretoria-based National Energy Regulator of South Africa said in a draft discussion paper to formulate its position on principles, licensing and conditions for installation of small-scale renewable embedded generators. The document was published on its website and dated December 10.<\/p>\n

The introduction of such a plan means South Africa, whose sole power utility is struggling to meet demand, would be emulating countries such as Germany, Spain and the US, which have had small-scale renewable generation that included feed-in tariffs or credit programs through banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir governments also securitized the tariff by government guarantees, which is something that the South African government cannot engage in at this stage with so many programs where guarantees are currently offered,\u201d the paper said.<\/p>\n

South Africa has so far procured about 3900 megawatts of capacity through three competitive rounds of bids by independent producers of renewable energy, with about $10 billion invested. That already exceeds the 3725 megawatts initially sought from five bid windows. An additional 3600 megawatts will be sought, the Department of Energy said on December 12.<\/p>\n

GENERATION FORECAST<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s integrated resources plan for 2010-30 estimates both residential and commercial photovoltaic embedded generation could reach as many as 22.5 gigawatts by 2030, the regulator said in its discussion document.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Nersa approved conditions where generators of as many as 100 kilowatts are registered and allowed to sell electricity to municipalities. It proposes that this be raised to 500 kilowatts.<\/p>\n

Tariff options proposed by the regulator included enabling customers to reduce bills by feeding excess usage to the grid at a retail price, with a feed-in tariff paying a different rate for selling energy to that for consuming it.<\/p>\n

A net-metering option would see customers billed on consumption minus the amount generated.<\/p>\n

BILLING CONSIDERATIONS<\/p>\n

Net-energy metering, measured in kilowatt-hours, will be used instead of rand, the regulator said. Each month, the electricity that small-scale generators produce in excess of their own consumption will be sent back to the grid and credited to their accounts for up to one yearly billing cycle, after which any remaining credit is forfeited to the distributor, it said. \u201cThis reduces any incentive for the customer to oversize generation with respect to load.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s electricity rates will rise an average 13 percent from April, more than the 8 percent planned, to help the state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. recover 7.8 billion rand ($665 million) of unbudgeted costs incurred in the three years through March 2013, Nersa said in October.<\/p>\n

The government will raise 20 billion rand by selling shares in listed companies, stakes in state-owned entities and real estate to help the company finance a 225 billion-rand cashflow shortfall for the five years through March 2018.<\/p>\n

Via Eskom wants your excess solar power – Business News | IOL Business | IOL.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Draft – Resale of Electricity in South Africa by NERSA on 20141210<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg – South Africa\u2019s energy regulator is looking at a framework that would enable homes and businesses to receive credits for feeding surplus power they generate from rooftop solar panels back into the constrained electricity grid. \u201cThere is growing interest from South African electricity customers to install rooftop photovoltaic systems in order to reduce their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,46,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-solar","7":"tag-1-1","8":"tag-grid-tie","9":"tag-net-metering","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Alan","author_link":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/author\/alan\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5HvVd-2q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/solar-reaches-parity-with-eskom\/","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":0},"title":"Solar reaches parity with Eskom","author":"Alan","date":"16 January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This article in the Mail and Guardian is probably one of the most balanced that we have read to date: Solar power to reach its zenith. 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This development will radically transform\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar"","block_context":{"text":"Solar","link":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/category\/solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Conversation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/50985\/count.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1405,"url":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/how-south-africa-can-spread-renewable-energy-to-low-income-areas-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":2},"title":"How South Africa can spread renewable energy to low income areas","author":"Alan","date":"4 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"South Africa has installed solar water heaters in low cost housing areas. It should be installing solar PV for energy. ShutterstockThere has been a rapid decline in the costs of solar and wind power, to such an extent that both technologies are now cheaper than nuclear or coal. This development\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar"","block_context":{"text":"Solar","link":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/category\/solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/straton.co.za\/solar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/image-20151125-23821-n2coul.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/would-you-rather-pay-79ckwh-for-20-years-or-chance-eskoms-increases\/","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":3},"title":"Would you rather pay 79c\/kWh for 20 years or chance Eskoms increases?","author":"Alan","date":"18 July 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"How to save R881 176.81 and contribute to the planet! Consider the facts that: the price of electricity per kWh will increase year on year installing Solar Power effectively locks you in to a fixed price per kWh for the life of the system Then take your calculator out and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar"","block_context":{"text":"Solar","link":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/category\/solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":830,"url":"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/growthpoint-growing-solar\/","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":4},"title":"Growthpoint growing solar","author":"Alan","date":"5 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Growthpoint Properties has targeted boosting its solar energy generation capacity to over 6MWp by mid-2016 to become one of the largest generators of rooftop solar power in South Africa. 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