{"id":535642,"date":"2021-11-08T17:01:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T15:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=535642"},"modified":"2021-11-08T17:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T15:01:15","slug":"how-much-it-costs-to-get-off-eskoms-grid-and-away-from-load-shedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/535642\/how-much-it-costs-to-get-off-eskoms-grid-and-away-from-load-shedding\/","title":{"rendered":"How much it costs to get off Eskom&#8217;s grid and away from load shedding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Embattled power utility Eskom has announced that stage 4 load shedding will continue for the rest of the week, with energy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/535188\/fears-of-extended-load-shedding-after-workers-down-tools-report\/\">analysts<\/a> <\/strong>warning that the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, South Africans who wish to produce their own power can use a combination of solar panels to generate, and battery backup systems to store electricity.<\/p>\n<p>Solar panels use photovoltaic (PV) cells to convert sunlight to electricity. When a panel of PV cells absorbs light, electrons that generate electric current are released. The electric current produced can be used as a direct power source or stored in batteries as a backup power solution.<\/p>\n<p>According to data provided by the City of Cape Town, there are two main types of solar PV systems to choose from:<\/p>\n<h4>Grid-tied SSEG systems<\/h4>\n<p>These are connected to the electricity grid either directly or through your property&#8217;s internal wiring. There are two types of grid-tied systems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grid-tied feed-in\u00a0<\/strong><strong>system\u00a0<\/strong>(also known as an SSEG with export option): the electricity generated by the PV system is used on the property. Excess electricity generated from the system is fed back into the electricity grid,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grid-<\/strong><strong>tied non-feed-in PV\u00a0<\/strong>(also known as an SSEG without export option, with reverse power flow blocking): the electricity generated by the PV system is used\u00a0on the property only when there is a demand for it. Excess electricity generated is blocked from feeding back into the grid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Off-grid or standalone SSEG systems<\/h4>\n<p>These systems have no connection to the grid. They are physically separated and electrically isolated from the grid. An example would be connecting a pool pump directly to a solar PV system instead of connecting it to the building&#8217;s wiring.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Costs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The costs of installing solar PV panels will vary widely depending on the use case of each homeowner and what appliances they are looking to power &#8211; as well as the number of solar panels they install.<\/p>\n<p>Pricing from energy specialists SolarAdvice shows that a lower-end system, built specifically to power some appliances during load shedding for a couple of hours, will set users back <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/solaradvice.co.za\/product\/off-grid-3kw-5kw-rack-mounted-backup-load-shedding-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"woocommerce-Price-currencySymbol\">R<\/span>34,700<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>By comparison, a &#8216;starter&#8217; off-grid power kit that will power <span class=\"su-highlight\">small households for a short time will cost around <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/solaradvice.co.za\/product\/off-grid-3kw-5kw-rack-mounted-backup-solar-power-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">R49,000<\/a><\/strong>. <\/span>Those looking for a kit to give power continuously can expect to pay upwards of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/solaradvice.co.za\/product\/fusion-8kw-floor-mounted-backup-solar-power-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">R90,000<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to MyBroadband in August, Nick Roche, chief product officer at energy company Rubicon, said that it will cost around <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/411522-goodbye-eskom-what-it-costs-to-go-off-grid.html\">R250,000 <\/a><\/strong>to install a power generation and storage system that is sufficient to take a small household completely off of Eskom\u2019s grid.<\/p>\n<p>Roche said when it came to the ideal system for households, there was no \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d solution. Factors you should consider will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>System size<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Amount of output power and capacity<\/li>\n<li><strong>Roof details<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013Size of the roof section with sufficient exposure to the sun<\/li>\n<li><strong>Autonomy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 How long the system must keep providing power during periods of low generation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Budget<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 How much you want to spend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Roche said there were a few easy wins to decrease the required system capacity and costs when planning a solar system. He added that South Africans may be better served by making smaller changes first before moving completely off the grid.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Firstly, hot water geysers should be converted to alternative supplies such as solar energy,\u201d Roche said. &#8220;Next, converting the stove and oven to gas can greatly reduce usage, as these appliances are among the most power-hungry. Alternatively, induction plates have a much lower electrical load.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, Roche recommended updating certain other loads or old appliances to energy-efficient options \u2013 such as LEDs for lighting or using modern fridge and freezer technologies.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/535514\/eskom-moves-to-stage-4-load-shedding-for-the-rest-of-the-week-here-is-the-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eskom moves to stage 4 load shedding for the rest of the week \u2013 here is the schedule<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embattled power utility Eskom has announced that stage 4 load shedding will continue for the rest of the week, with energy analysts warning that the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":529642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26,12396,16408],"class_list":["post-535642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-headline","tag-rubicon","tag-solaradvice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535642"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535682,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535642\/revisions\/535682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}