[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Eskom greens geysers - but for the poor?

[Patrick Bond]

Dec 22 2007 11:13PM

Eskom goes green with solar heaters
Don Robertson Published:Dec 16, 2007

Eskom has set aside R2-billion to subsidise the installation of solar 
water heaters in an effort to reduce the electricity-guzzling electric 
heaters used in most homes.

Andrew Etzinger, general manager of Eskom’s Demand Side Management Fund, 
said that a facilitator, auditing firm Deloitte, had been appointed. The 
scheme is expected to be introduced early next year.

All solar heaters have to meet SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) 
requirements and the efficiency of the heater and all approved solar 
heater suppliers will be identified. The level of the subsidy will be 
based on how much electricity will be saved using the solar water heater.

Heater suppliers will be paid the subsidy — which will be used to reduce 
the cost of the heater — and Deloitte will establish that the solar 
heater was installed, said Etzinger.

Initially, the target market for the fund will be in the 
middle-to-higher- income groups, but a second scheme is being developed 
to make the plan more affordable to those in the lower- income group.

The plan is to roll out 900000 solar water heaters in the next five 
years of which about 100000 will be placed in the Nelson Mandela Bay 
municipality.

It is also hoped to get a similar subsidy from some municipalities, said 
John Ledger, a conservationist and an associate professor on energy at 
the University of the Witwatersrand.

Ledger trades as Gauteng Solar Solutions and represents On-Sun solar 
water heaters, which are manufactured in the Free State.

A 150-litre solar heater, under good conditions, will generate at least 
2000 kilowatt hours of energy from the sun every year. Also available 
are 300-litre heaters.

There have been very few solar water heater suppliers in the past and 
some that were imported from China could not be repaired if they broke 
down. There were also a lot of “fly-by- night” suppliers that entered 
the market as there was no SABS certification.

At the beginning of the year there were only 12 members of the 
Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa, but the number has since 
grown to 60, including those from Australia, France and Germany.

Solar heaters cost between R8000 for a 150-litre unit to R24000 for a 
300- litre heater, but the Eskom subsidy will be deducted from these prices.

A solar heater is placed on the roof of the building and a 150-litre 
heater measures about 2m² and weighs 90 kilos. It may be installed as a 
stand- alone water heater with a built-in electric heating element for 
overcast days, or it can be used as a pre-heater for the electric geyser 
which will supply it with hot water instead of cold, said Ledger.

Municipalities increase their electricity prices every year — often at 
rates higher than inflation — while Eskom has applied for an 18% 
increase in prices for 2008.

Ledger is also a member of the International Solar Energy Society and is 
chairman of the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa.