Conference to showcase South Africa's solar energy debate

According to Edwin Koot, CEO of leading international solar energy platform, Solarplaza, South Africa is primed to develop this resource. He said: "The conditions for solar in this country are excellent: there is an abundance of sunshine and space, the economy is growing, the prices of electricity generated from coal and by Eskom is on the rise and there is a growing demand for a greener and sustainable energy production."

The challenge, however, lies in our ability to improve the sustainability of the industry by going beyond subsidised government-managed and monitored programmes. This hot topic forms one of the key debates at the 2013 The Solar Future: South Africa conference, which takes place in Cape Town on 12 February 2013.

"We, as the solar industry in South Africa, have to prove our sustainability and, therefore, we have to make sure that we create new business cases and reach new off-takers, so we are no longer, or at least less dependent on government programmes," said Dick Berlijn, the MD of Pretoria-based solar electricity development firm Subsolar Energy.

No reliance on subsidies

Alexi Romano, CEO of the Romano Group agrees: "To be sustainable, the industry needs to become competitive to the extent that it does not have to rely on subsidies. This will be achieved as soon as the cost of solar PV reaches grid parity."

"Over the past two years the Romano Group has installed nearly 1MWp of rooftop solar PV systems in South Africa," he added. "The largest ones being a 300kWp-project in Cape Town, and two in Joburg that account for 150kWp and 100kWp."

The 100 and 150 kWp-systems, respectively, cover an area of some 750m² and 1150m², of which the latter has a payback time of less than 10 years.

One of the Romano Group 100KWp-projects concerns a Pick n Pay branch in Hurlingham, Joburg. The system can produce up to 25% of the electricity needed by this particular supermarket and as a result, 4000 fewer tons of carbon will be emitted into the atmosphere in the next 20 years.

How global developments can impact on the cost of solar energy in SA

Both Berlijn and Romano will be speaking at the 2013 The Solar Future: South Africa conference, which is organised by Solarplaza.

Apart from addressing ways to make the South African solar industry more sustainable and elaborating on the reasons why South Africa is such a promising solar location, the conference - hosted at Southern Sun's Cape Sun Hotel - will cover how global developments can impact on the cost of solar energy in South Africa, the role of solar in Eskom's future energy mix, what it takes to develop a large PV solar plant, and the reasons why mining should consider tapping into solar.

Speakers include international solar PV guru and entrepreneur Jigar Shah, representatives from the Department of Energy, Eskom's acting programme manager PV Tobias Bischof-Niemz, and senior project advisor in the Public Private Partnership unit at the National Treasury Karen Breytenbach, as well as various leading energy contractors and developers from South Africa and abroad.

For more information and to book your place, go to www.thesolarfuture.co.za.