Solar Energy Installation
What used to be the occasional frustration has become a daily headache with load shedding seeming like it’s only going to get worse. It is no wonder then that more and more people are looking at switching to renewable energy such as solar power. Not only will you avoid the inconvenience of loosing power every couple of hours, but you will also save money and be a part of the ever growing move towards sustainable energy.
Protection From Grid Unreliability
Solar Energy Installations have become one of the best investments any homeowner can make this year with more people wanting to generate their own power and power security. Just think about all the extra logistics needed every day to make sure food is going to be made in time, that phones and laptops are charged, that you have enough candles or torches…the list goes on. We want to make your life less complicated rather than more!
Getting back to a simpler way of life on top of the fact that there is no doubt of the economic effect load shedding has had on the country, makes it no surprise that people want to take their fate into their own hands.
Not only this but, the price of electricity seems to be rising exponentially at a worrying rate. This makes having solar energy a Return on Investments that’s hard to ignore! From the day the installation is complete, and the moment the sun rises, your system will be converting the Sun’s photons into power that your home will then utilize instead of Eskoms.
Take a look at our Pretoria Electricians and our Centurion Electricians available.
We offer a variety systems that will be tailor-made to suit your requirements and budget. Looking at your power use and preference when it comes to reliable power, your options include:
Grid tie – This very simple solar installation system connects solar panels via an inverter to your house’s DB board. There is real time savings with this as your home is powered by the sun for each hour of sunlight it gets, rather than by the national grid. However, this system does not include any battery back up power.
Hybrid- More popular are our hybrid systems which provide you with off the grid power when the sun is out, as well as when its not due to battery back up system. This size of the batteries can also be chosen according to your backup needs e.i just lights and wifi or your whole house.
100% off the Grid –
This system is for those that want to be completely independent from the grid, and will include enough battery back up and solar capacity to hold even throughout winter days. These systems combine solar panels, an inverter and multiple batteries for back up.
What size solar system do I need?
We’ve done the maths so that you don’t have to! The average household would need 12 panels to cover its entire monthly usage. Obviously this could be completely different dependant on the size of your home and your needs ( do you want to be completely off the grid or just have essentials backed up?)
The maths:
The average household has a 600kWh average monthly usage / 30 days = 20kWh daily usage. Solar panels on average will give you 5.5 average maximum production hours. Therefore 20kWh/5.5 hrs = 3.63 kWh System / 0.455kWh Solar Panels = 7.99 or rounded up to 8 panels. This can be modularly increased by 8 panels for each 600kWh used each month.
Protection from Energy Price Rises
With the recent approval from NERSA (National Energy Regulator South Africa) of Eksoms proposed increase of an 18.65% tariff hike for the 2022/23 financial year and 12.74% for the year after that, not only does South Africa’s power supply continue to become even more expensive, it is also highly unreliable. Since 2008 South Africa has been periodically plagued with loadshedding due to an unreliable grid, poor maintenance, and intrinsic corruption in how the state owned power utility is run. Amongst a dark looking future for the South African power producer, other options for independent power generation are looking more and more appealing to South Africans, and with the price of solar installations being at a low point it is a very lucrative option. The City of Cape Town has also recently received approval to be able to buy electricity back from independent home producers that feed excess electricity back into the grid. Yes that’s right, not only will you save money by using your own power, you can also make money by selling excess power!
And with long summers, and a sunny climate, South Africans are in a good position to harvest enough solar power to make the return on investment a short to medium term one, and experience freedom from the unreliable grid!
What can solar electricity save me?
Your whole electricity bill, is the short answer, but the long answer is that is is completely dependant on the size of installation and upfront investment. For instance, a grid tie system will save you electricity during sunlight hours, but will force you to be reliant on the grid at night or bad weather days. Let’s look at an example (more maths!):
The average medium household of up to 4 occupants (2 adults and 2 children) will use 600 kWh per calendar month, or a total electricity bill up to R 1 788.00 / 30 days
( = R59.60 per day for electricity, (20 kWh Units for prepaid electricity).
We can deduct from this is that the current average cost per kWh of electricity ( Jan 2023) is R 2.98 Incl VAT , based on a monthly power use of up to – 600 kWh per calendar month , or a total electricity bill up to R 1 788.00.)
We often find that you may want to build your system in stages, we encourage this so that the renewable journey is not financially stressful as a once off upfront cost, but rather spread over a period of months. It is therefore possible to plan for the size of system you need so that a big enough inverter can be installed from the beginning, but then upgrade later to install more batteries and/or solar panels.
