The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has finally released a consultation paper for an updated Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice for certain categories of small-scale embedded generators (SSEGs), which was submitted to the regulator for its concurrence by Energy Minister Jeff Radebe late last year.

Stakeholders and members of the public have been invited to comment on the draft amendment to the Electricity Regulation Act, with a deadline of May 24 set for submissions.

The notice seeks to replace the November 2017 Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice, which is widely accepted to be “flawed” and which has also caused significant market uncertainty.

The new notice exempts various categories of SSEG plant under 1 MW from the requirement to apply for and hold a licence under the Act, including a facility that supplies electricity to a customer who is an end-use customer.
One operated to supply an end-use customer, or related customers by wheeling.
And the operation of a generation facility for demonstration purposes only, whether or not the facility is connected to a transmission or distribution network.

The notice also covers existing generation facilities, including those that filed for registration with the regulator within six months of commencement of the registration process by the regulator.

It also covers the trading of electricity by a reseller.

Separately, Nersa’s electricity subcommittee approved, on May 13, registration applications for 16 SSEGs and one cogenerator in line with the 2017 Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice, which remains in force until the new notice is promulgated. 

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Are floating solar farms better than land-based ones?
Who needs to take up so much land when the Earth is 70 per cent water…
Where land is scarce, floating solar farms make it possible to generate renewable energy without taking up space that might be needed for farming or other purposes. The cooling effect of the water allows the floating solar cells to run more efficiently than on land. Most floating solar farms are installed on artificial lakes or reservoirs. For example, the world’s largest floating solar farm, recently unveiled in China near the city of Huainan, sits on top of a former coal mining area that has been flooded. By covering the water’s surface, floating solar farms reduce evaporation, saving water.

With load shedding here to stay for the foreseeable future, it’s back to basics for South Africans.
Call it load shedding, or rolling blackouts, the fact is it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future and South Africans are going to have to learn to live with it for a while yet.

The Citizen spoke to Lungile Mashele, an energy specialist at the Development Bank of South Africa, who also holds qualifications in economics, insolvency law, cost engineering and energy, about practical ways to minimise the effects.

“Have your work and home load shedding schedules handy. There’s no point in sitting in three-hour traffic to get to work to discover that there are no lights. Rather work from home until your office has lights,” advised Mashele.

“Keep your phone, power bank and torch charged and ready for a blackout. Invest in power-surge plugs. Continuous outages and related trips may damage your appliances.”

There is a growing conversation in the country over which is better: solar photo-voltaic power or fuel-driven generators.

“The preferred option is a complete retrofit of a home using gas to cook and for water heating, or solar water heating,” Mashele said.

“In addition to that, investing in solar PV with an inverter and battery storage will sustain you during periods of load shedding.”

Mashele explained an inverter converted the direct current produced by the panels to alternating current, and synchronised the power produced within the home with the Eskom grid.

“This option requires a rather large capital outlay. However, with the rising costs of electricity, it has a generally low payback period. A typical suburban household will require an investment of about R80,000. Depending on your consumption you can recover your costs within two to five years,” Mashele said.

“Generators present a cheaper alternative in terms of capital cost (about R10,000), but in the long run, the fuel cost renders this option far more expensive. Diesel generators can present a safety risk and are a noise nuisance not allowed by many body corporates.”

Load shedding survival tips

Plan your activities and travel around anticipated load shedding.
Be creative with dinners and activities to keep yourself and your family entertained.
Have braais and set up a tent for the kids with a campfire, especially during this holiday period.
Invest in rechargeable emergency LED lights. They are bright enough to light up the room for homework and household activities.
One can also buy an inexpensive two-burner gas stove at any major retailer and cook using gas.
Load shedding affects the ability of the water utility to pump water, so make sure you have water stored in the house.
It also means no fibre to the home, so make sure your phone has data or airtime.
Carry cash, as some retailers are unable to take card payments.

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Naria Security from Italy is looking for a local representative/agent for their innovative solar panel anti-theft system
This system protects every single solar panel, triggering an alarm in case of a theft attempt.
​Plastic fiber LiteWIRE links all the solar panels like a chain and is connected to a LiteSUN Plus analyser. Only bends and the cut of the fiber during a theft attempt can trigger an alarm. This system is free of false alarms, as it is not sensitive to vibrations, so weather conditions (like wind, rain or snow), leaves and birds do not trigger any false alarms. In addition, as plastic fiber is an insulating material, the system is not affected by any electromagnetic noise.
​

• asy  and quick to install
• Every single panel is protected
• Zero false alarms (insensitive to vibrations and ground loops)
• Zero maintenance
• Plastic fiber cable LiteWIRE is used, which is easy to terminate and repair (basic tools are required, no measuring instrument)
  
  
• If only a cut of the fiber needs to be detected a simpler analyser, LiteSUN, can be used.​
  
  For more information and agency enquiries contact  alwyn@saaea.org

International Solar Alliance (ISA) on Sunday urged African states to tap solar energy to green their economies.
​ISA Program Ambassador Mohua Mukherjee told a media briefing in Nairobi that the bulk of African states are located along the sunshine belt with abundant solar energy resources.
"African countries should take advantage of declining cost of solar technology to achieve clean energy targets," Mukherjee said during the second global session of the United Nations Science, Policy and Business Forum on the environment.
The majority of the continent's residents are not connected to their national electricity grids, he said.
"This provides a great opportunity for Africans to use solar technology to power their electric appliances," she added.
The ISA will leverage on South-South cooperation to enable Africa benefit and borrow critical experiences from their peers in other developing countries so that they embrace solar technologies, Mukherjee said.
However, according to the global solar body, the high upfront cost remains a key barrier to driving uptake of solar technology among African households.
Mukherjee called for innovative technologies such as pay-as-you-go systems to ensure that the continent has access to solar equipment.
She said that by adopting solar technology, Africa can play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Mukherjee said strong economic growth in Africa in the past decade has fueled demand for energy in the continent.
"It will be prudent for the region to choose green energy sources that will accelerate the drive towards low carbon development pathways," she said.

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African renewable energy company, New Southern Energy, has installed a state of the art microgrid solution at Marlenique Farm, owned by the Van der Merwe Family of the renowned Boplaas in Ceres. The farm is located just outside Franschoek. The farm produces export quality fruit and runs an award-winning wedding and function venue.
New Southern Energy Installs First Commercial Floating Solar Farm in Africa 

The floating solar system is the first commercially operational system to be installed in Africa and, at 60 kWp, it is by far the largest.

The solution includes, an internal AC reticulation upgrade and consolidation of connection points, installation of a backup generator to run the internal grid in the event of power outages, a 534 kWp ground mounted solar system, a 60 kWp floating solar system and provision for infrastructure to allow for battery system to be included during phase two to take the site completely off-grid.

French floating solar developers, Ciel & Terre, participated in the project. Of their contribution to the state-of-the-art system, Jack Setton, Ciel & Terre’s EMEA Business Developer, said, “We’re delighted to have delivered South Africa’s first commercial floating PV installation, in collaboration with Floating Solar PTY and New Southern Energy. Irrigation reservoirs like this one are perfect for solar projects, and we see great opportunities on the Western Cape’s countless dams, particularly for clients such as wineries or fruit growers.”

Floating Solar (Pty) Ltd, the distributors for the Ciel & Terre floating solar system in South Africa, was established in 2017 as a Floating Solar PV equipment provider and project developer.

On the completion of the system, their representative Peter Varndell said, “Congratulations to New Southern Energy for completing this first commercial scale Floating Solar plant in Africa. There is significant potential to replicate this technology in the African market where it can be used to provide clean energy for mining, industrial, agricultural, water treatment works, hydropower and reservoir sites.”

The project was financed through Nedbank Agriculture with the savings from the system allowing the farm to operate cash-flow positive from day one, while paying the asset off over 10 years. With a long-lasting life-space the benefits of the system will be passed on for generations to come.

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Utility bosses believe that the risk of electricity consumers going off-grid and using it only as occasional backup will increase significantly in the next two years.

That’s according to a new study from Accenture, in which 95 per cent of utilities agreed that the deployment of distributed generation technologies like rooftop solar is increasing faster than utilities can build new grid capacity to handle it in high-demand areas.

The proportion of both residential and commercial consumers with rooftop solar PV in the markets modelled in the report could exceed 15 per cent by 2036 in some parts of the world, such as California in the US.

And Accenture says that this trend is likely to continue to affect net electricity demand growth for the foreseeable future.

“Distribution businesses have had a tough time in recent years with weak demand, which is one reason why grid operators’ profits have been squeezed,” said Stephanie Jamison, a managing director at Accenture who leads its Transmission and Distribution business.

“The proliferation of distributed generation changes electricity demand profiles, potentially diminishing total demand without necessarily reducing peak demand. Successful distributed generation integration will require substantial investments in new connections and grid reinforcement to modernise the network and sustain the same level of reliability and safety and secure operations.”

The study surveyed 150 executives across 25 countries as part of Accenture’s Digitally Enabled Grid research programme.

It found that increased deployment of distributed generation will “complicate utilities’ operations, requiring distribution utilities to act now to avoid the excessive grid-reinforcement spending required to host new distributed generation energy flows”.

​According to Accenture modelling, some markets could generate substantial capital reinforcement cost savings simply through better identification of local constraints on the distribution network. A 10 per cent improved accuracy in distributed generation forecasts, resulted in projected savings of 15-28 per cent in New York, 14-18 per cent in California, 14-15 per cent in Australia, and 11-12 per cent in both the UK and The Netherlands.

Indeed, distributed generation integration was ranked as the second-highest priority area as a cost-saving opportunity, selected by 59 per cent of respondents as one of their top five choices.

The top priority, chosen by 61 per cent of respondents, was reducing supply chain unit costs through improved forecasting of materials and service requirements.

Lighting manufacturer BEKA Schréder’s LEDlume-midi 36/55W luminaire, used in solar lighting solutions has been used at four intersections en route to iron-ore and manganese mine Assmang’s Black Rock mine, in the Northern Cape.

“The intersections leading to the different sections of the mine have always been in total darkness. To make pedestrians and motorists feel safer, it was decided to illuminate these intersections,” says BEKA Schréder senior technical sales representative Quintin Etsebeth.

Owing to the isolated location of the mine, a complete electrical reticulation would have been too expensive. Thus, a solar streetlighting solution was installed.

The LEDlume-midi 36LED/55W luminaire, mounted 8 m above road level, was chosen for this project. The luminaire installations with its complementing electrical works took one month to install.

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Sustainable Power Solutions has recently been working on two off-grid solar PV projects for Serena Hotels, both projects are milestones for Kenya’s hospitality industry.

Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge, which is featured in the video below, is noted as “Kenya’s first fully solar powered lodge!” In addition to setting a sustainable record for the Kenyan tourism industry, the solar power plant assisted Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge to win a Global Best Practice Awards earlier this year! ​