Perplexed, disappointed and outraged

Perplexed, disappointed and outraged

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

I’ve just read a memo from Eskom’s Grid Access Unit (GAU) and I’m outraged. Why? Because the parastatal has failed to grasp what the world has already recognised; that small-scale LV (low voltage) solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a viable, alternative energy source.

Rooftop LV solar PV is by far the largest contributor to renewable energy on the planet and a sustainable high-growth industry surrounding this technology would create thousands of sorely-needed jobs in South Africa.

Eskom doesn’t get it and, per the memo, forbids low voltage embedded generators - such as 230-volt or 400V grid-tied solar PV systems - to connect to the Eskom grid, even if they do not feed power back into the grid.

I am perplexed. Does this, at a stroke, render illegal thousands of already-installed, low voltage solar PV installations?

By contrast, the GAU has given its blessing for medium and high-voltage generators to connect to Eskom’s network simply because the process is “existing and approved”.

The disappointing thing about the GAU’s position is that - at no cost to Eskom - small scale rooftop LV solar PV installations could go a long way towards relieving SA’s current power shortages and obviating inconvenient black-outs.

Moreover, rooftop solar PV has the potential to feed back much-need power into the grid to assist industries, currently being paid by Eskom to minimise power-sapping production cycles, to return to full production again.

Does the GAU not realise that this move would create thousands of new jobs, improve the balance of payments deficit, boost GDP and more?

Most organisations facing as many insurmountable challenges as Eskom would not persist in throwing as many bureaucratic hurdles in the way of one of the key solutions to its well-documented woes as the GAU has.

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