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GREEN YOUR HOME

The Johannesburg Metro’s City Power has launched their Small Scale Embedded Generation Program, more commonly known as a reverse feed or embedded energy program. The program paves the way for residents and businesses that generate their own electricity through solar power energy production, to reverse feed a limited amount of surplus generation back into the municipal grid. The amount of power fed back is set under a fixed tariff and will be offset against existing City Power electricity accounts.

The model, widely deployed in progressive cities around the world is a no-brainer and a long time coming. Think about it, City Power sets conditions to buy power at a massive discount and sells it on at normal tariff rates, with very little capital outlay. Collectively the participants create a large urban solar farm servicing City Power. The challenge and cost to City Power is the strict implementation and adjustment to their automated billing system to allow for both the purchase and sale of electricity. Something they appear to have overcome.

The application process appears to be simple and invites interested residents and business to complete the Inverter Based Grid Tied PV Installation Form. However, the application form requires technical input and must be completed with the assistance of your qualified solar power (PV) installer. Once approved, a bi-directional advanced (AMI) credit meter needs to be installed by the City or your existing meter needs to be reprogrammed by the City to allow for reverse feed. This is at the home or business owners own cost.

While friendly and accommodating, the department set up to process applications is understaffed. They are based at the City Power Compound at 40 Heronmere Road, Booysens, Johannesburg. There are teething problems and you can expect delays in application processing. Some applicants have waited up to eight months to finalise their applications. However, as the program gathers momentum, more resources will be added to the department and efficiency should ultimately improve.

Despite the administrational challenges, make sure the components and quality of the installation of your Solar Power (PV) systems are of a high standard in order to meet City Powers set conditions as laid out in the application form. The installation must comply with the South African National Standard (SANS ) and a valid Certificate of Compliance (COC) must be issued for the installation. The application process can be quite vigorous and lengthy if the PV system installed does not comply with the standards specified. In this way City Power ensures the reliability of supply for the life of the system. The positive consequence of the high standards that need to be met is the indirect regulation of the Photovoltaic or solar power installation industry. Long story short – pay a little more for a reputable company with a qualified electrical technician or engineer to do your installation.

There are size limitations and the initial tariffs offered are not anything to get excited about.  The launch tariff for selling back to City Power has been set at 42.79c per kilowatt hour (kW/h) for residences and 36.14c per kilowatt hour (kW/h) for businesses that are on three phase supply. The size of single phase installations is capped at 4.6 Kilowatts. While the tariffs are low, they are better than nothing and will improve your return on investment plus payback period.

Author: The Green Building Whisperer (01/03/2018)

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Carbon tax finally coming to South Africa

Government’s purpose with this allowance is to encourage the use of renewable energy in the business sector by for instance supporting smaller solar PV energy projects that have a low environmental impact and use little water. Which brings us to another tax benefit of installing solar PV: In January 2019, government is implementing a carbon tax for businesses that emit excessive amounts of greenhouse gasses through especially transportation vehicles and electricity generation. As a low-carbon source of energy, solar power can help businesses to become greener and therefore avoid carbon tax.

• Less global warming
• Improved public health
• Inexhaustible energy
• Jobs and other economic benefits
• Stable energy prices
• Reliability and resilience

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Crunching the Numbers: Facts About Lithium Vs. Lead Acid Batteries 

Lead, which is the heaviest non-radioactive metal, has been the standard in batteries for decades. Why should you consider a lithium battery conversion? Here are seven features explaining the disparity between lead acid and lithium-ion batteries.

1)   Weight: Lithium-ion batteries are one-third the weight of lead acid batteries.

2)   Efficiency: Lithium-ion batteries are nearly 100% efficient in both charge and discharge, allowing for the same amp hours both in and out. Lead acid batteries’ inefficiency leads to a loss of 15 amps while charging and rapid discharging drops voltage quickly and reduces the batteries’ capacity.

3)   Discharge: Lithium-ion batteries are discharged 100% versus less than 80% for lead acid. Most lead acid batteries do not recommend more than 50% depth of discharge.

4)   Cycle Life: Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries cycle 5000 times or more compared to just 400-500 cycles in lead acid. Cycle life is greatly affected by higher levels of discharge in lead acid, versus only slightly affected in lithium-ion batteries.

5)   Voltage: Lithium-ion batteries maintain their voltage throughout the entire discharge cycle. This allows for greater and longer-lasting efficiency of electrical components. Lead acid voltage drops consistently throughout the discharge cycle.

6)   Cost: Despite the higher upfront cost (+/- 20%) of lithium-ion batteries, the true cost of ownership is far less than lead acid when considering life span and performance.

7)   Environmental Impact: Lithium-ion batteries are a much cleaner technology and are safer for the environment.

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The new compact SUNNY HOME MANAGER 2.0

Intelligent energy management is now easier and more cost-effective

The Sunny Home Manager 2.0 monitors all energy flows in the home, automatically identifies potential savings and facilitates efficient use of solar energy.  It makes intelligent energy management even easier and more cost effective by combining the SMA Energy Meter in a single device.

Solar Log – Enhanced Solar PV Monitoring

Solare Datensysteme GmbH (SDS) is one of the leading companies for solar monitoring, smart energy and feed-in management. Solare Datensysteme GmbH has developed and distributed their Solar-Log™ devices and Solar-Log WEB Enerest™ portal since 2007.

SDS solutions make an important contribution to the successful integration of renewable energy into an intelligent power grid and help to make the successful transition to clean energy a reality.

The system monitors the photovoltaic plant and triggers an alarm immediately when a malfunction occurs. The causes may vary greatly and lead high yield losses on the long-term. The failure of an inverter, the partial failure of a module or cable damage are just some examples of problems that are detected quickly at an early stage. Yield losses can be avoided with Solar-Log™ to prevent any unpleasant surprises.

Ingeteam – Diesel-PV Solutions

Integration of photovoltaic into diesel grids

The power generation from diesel gensets plays a key role for industrial companies and rural communities all over the world, especially in remote regions without a good grid infrastructure. They permit to create simple off-grid networks with a moderate initial investment. However these applications have some disadvantages. First, the grid they create is totally dependent on diesel, which is a non-renewable and scarce energy source.  On the other hand, the energy generated is expensive due to high prices of fuel and the difficulty of supplying and storing it. Furthermore, diesel-based systems have to face constant price increases and high OPEX -Operational Expenditures- directly related to the use of fuel. Apart from that, CO2 emissions increase with the use of gensets. This fact has to be taken into account, not only as a moral exigence towards global warming, but also because it could entail governmental fines, affecting operational expenditures. PV system prices have fallen in the last years, allowing nowadays generating energy to a more competitive cost compared to fuel. In regions with high solar irradiation levels and expensive fuel prices, PV systems can be amortized in less than four years. Furthermore, PV plants require little maintenance and they can be configured according to specific energy demands. Moreover, photovoltaics do not produce CO2 emissions. The integration of PV systems into diesel grids offers large industries and rural communities a way of saving fuel with a natural and renewable resource. This can be achieved by adding INGECON® SUN PV inverters and Ingeteam’s Diesel-PV controllers to the diesel grid. The use of photovoltaics reduces the energy generated by the gensets and, therefore, the fuel consumption.