Solution is a click away

LIMPOPO – The business sector has been working with government to find solutions to the current electricity supply problems.  
Eskom needs space, 3 000MW decrease in demand, to allow them to try and catch up on their maintenance back log.
This back log has resulted in a situation where there is currently 11 000MW of unplanned outages, which puts the system under severe pressure.
Roger Stones, Eskom’s senior energy advisor in Limpopo believes that there are real answers to the real problem of load shedding.
Eskom needs a 10% saving across the board. Not only will this lighten their load, it will also save you money.
Every business, farm and household should conduct an energy audit or energy assessment. When you know exactly what every kilowatt is used for, you can start to look for ways to save energy and money.
Stones offers his help in this assessment. He recently conducted an energy audit at a farm in Levubu.
Instead of changing light bulbs or buying a solar system, this farmer can drastically reduce his energy bill (by 10%), by installing variable speed drives on his irrigation motors.
Stones would rather focus on solutions rather than problems.
“My intention is to present the facts so that you can make an informed choice,” says Stones.

Useful hints:
• You can buy a 5,5kVA petrol generator and install it for R6 000 to R8 000.
• A 5,5kVA generator will roughly run at R20 to R25 per hour.
• You can buy a 3kW solar photo voltaic system (PV) with battery backup for two hours for R60 000.
• Energy efficient lighting technology costs about R1 500 per kilowatt saved at average.
• Variable speed drives cost about R3 500 per kilowatt saved. Never buy a variable speed diver without harmonic filers.
• Inverter air conditioners cost about R4 000 per kilowatt saved.
• Solar geysers and heat pump geysers cost about R5 500 per kilowatt saved.
• Photo voltaic solar systems, electricity from solar energy, cost R20 000 to R50 000 per kilowatt saved.
• The average solar day in South Africa in photo voltaic terms is 5,5 hours. In other words, you can get on average about 5,5 hours of electricity from the sun per day in South Africa.
• It is not legal to put power back onto the grid through your photo voltaic system yet. Some municipalities have feed-in tariffs. Eskom intends to release a feed-in tariff some time this year.
• If you put power back onto the grid and someone is hurt or killed because of your generator, you will be locked up. Make sure your system is isolated from the grid when the grid is not operating.
Stones believes an energy audit should not be difficult.
“Read the labels to know how much energy a device is using. If you need help, we are more than willing to assist. Eskom offers free energy advice to municipal and Eskom customers.”
Stones can be contacted at stonesrd@eskom.co.za.