Solar Energy
Kayema Nominated for a SANEA ENERGY Project of the Year AWARD 2011
Kayema’s Standard Bank Hybrid Solar and Heat Pumps Project nominated for a SANEA ENERGY AWARDS 2011 Awards to be announced at a Ceremony & Gala Dinner taking place on 25 August 2011
Today it was announced that Kayema’s project completed for Standard Bank at their head quarter building in the CBD of Johannesburg was nominated for the SANEA ENERGY PROJECT AWARD 2011
Kayema Energy Solutions designed, installed and commissioned a solar-heat pump hybrid system at Standard Bank’s head office complex in Johannesburg. The system, commissioned in November 2010, is expected to reduce electricity demand by around 500 000kWh per year.According to James Shirley, General Manager of Kayema, Standard Bank took the initiative to fund the project themselves, as part of their drive to take a strong leadership role in SA and reduce the electricity demand of their buildings. The results of this project will have far reaching effects, both in terms of energy savings, and as proof to other organizations that the technologies work well pay for themselves. Having set the example on a corporate level, the Bank have subsequently rolled out a scheme allowing special rates for staff members wishing to install solar water heaters at their own homes.
Will the UN’s Climate Change Fund solve South Africa’s energy problems?
Recently the UN announced the establishment of a new Climate Change Fund that will be designed to invest more than $100 billion per year to implement cleantechnologies in the poorest countries of the world.
The question is whether this fund will solve our energy problems.
I believe that such a fund can only succeed if the fund is administered in such a way as to allow a large group of service providers to compete in this emerging industry. If the funds are given to the usual suspects like GE, Siemens 3M etc…
One of the key benefits of decentralized renewable energy generation such as solar thermal heating and cooling and solar pv is that smaller players can compete to provide an efficient solution to clients’ energy needs.
How South Africa can Avoid Going Back to the Dark Ages
An Open Letter to President Jacob Zuma
By Daniel Schwab, Founder and President Kayema Group, May 11th 2011
On April 28th 2010 President Jacob Zuma announced the formal launching of the South African Government’s program to ensure that 1 million solar water heating systems are installed by 2014. Over the past two years millions of Rand has been spent on promoting the adoption of Solar Water Heaters. Three questions may arise in light of these developments. Firstly is this policy justified; secondly, what is needed to successfully implement such policy and thirdly is it practically possible to achieve this goal.
The Government’s Policy is Justified
As per countless presentations from Eskom, we know that the current generating capacity is not able to cope with current demand. Secondly, Eskom’s new build program will not go online in time to meet current and future demand. We are being inundated with news of delays , increasing costs and other concerns such as environmental issues relating to Shale Gas and nuclear power in the wake of the Japan earthquake and tsunami ordeal.
The installation of 1 million solar water heaters is expected to save approximately 650MW of electricity demand. The minimum potential South African market is estimated at 5 million households.
Installing solar water heaters and heat pumps will reduce the load on our strained electrical grid and at a fraction of the cost and shorter time line than building new power stations. For this reason, government’s policy is definitely justified.
Requirements to Achieve Our Goal
Unfortunately as per the current installation figures, as reported by Eskom, over the past 2 years it is unlikely this goal will be achieved unless a fundamental change in the regulator and government’s mindset is achieved. As per Eskom’s weekly report April 5th 2011, since 2008 only 31,288 Low Pressure systems and 18,738 High Pressured systems have been installed. The same report indicates that the rate of installations is approximately 1,000 units per months throughout the country.
At this rate it will take approximately 1,000 months or 83 years to reach the goal of 1,000,000 systems. Since we have only 42 months left before the end of 2014, the rate of installation needs to increase to an average of 22,619 systems per month to install the remaining 950,000 units. This is simple mathematics.
The real challenge is how do we as a country increase installation rates by a factor of 22 times within such a short time period?
From our experience and our peers in the market, reaching such scale can be practically achieved provided the following interventions take place:
Increase Demand
The most important factor to achieve the above is to increase demand far beyond what is currently being achieved today.
Every year about 400,000 electrical geysers are installed in houses per year mainly through replacement of broken geysers but also via the installation of geysers on new houses. It is hard to imagine a starker dichotomy where on the one hand government is trying to install large quantities of solar water heaters and at the same time, the market is providing a financial disincentive to achieving the government’s goal. This market failure needs to be addressed in various ways, however key catalyst requires legislation.
1. New Build
Legislation and standards requiring the installation for SWH and/or Heat Pumps has been drafted and discussed for the past two years. This standard SANS 10400 X-A is a step in the right direction. We now need the Department of Trade and Industry to ratify this standard and secure legislation that will backup its implementation.
2. Insurance Industry
Legislation needs to be put in place so that insurance companies may not be allowed to pay out a claim if a client does not agree to put in a SWH or a HP. The responsibility should be the client’s to explain why they cannot install either one of these devices. Insurance companies are trying to adopt voluntary standards however this has not achieved the required results. Karin Kritzinger, a student at Stellenbosch University recently completed her thesis on the reasons why the insurance industry has not been successful in adopting solar water heaters and/or heat pumps. Miss. Kritzinger’s conclusion is that the status quo is too strong and can only be achieved through strong leadership and legislation.
3. Residential and Commercial Users Consuming more than 350kWh per month
All households who meet the minimum amount of electrical usage of 350kWh per month should be given 24 months to convert their geysers to a Solar Water Heater or a Heat Pump. Failure to do so should result in a onetime financial penalty.
The social justification for this is that millions of people in this country do not have electricity for basic requirements such as lighting which is further increasing the gap between the rich and poor in this country including safety and security issues in areas where there are no street lights.
Is Our Goal Practical
Naysayers and critics often acknowledge the need for converting to Solar but don’t believe that we as a country have the required human capital to achieve our goal of 1 million systems installed by 2014. I believe they have been proven wrong. Since 2008 hundreds of installers have been trained to install solar systems. On a daily basis we are providing a professional service and our clients are happy. We believe there are several other companies who are doing an excellent job at installing systems as well. Our installers who come from the plumbing industry are telling us that they have huge spare capacity due to the current economic slowdown. They are telling us that if it weren’t for solar they would have no work. So there are thousands of plumbers ready to step in provided there is demand.
I would like to appeal to all decisions makers whether in government, commerce, industry or even if you are simply a concerned citizen to work together with our industry to help South Africa weather the electrical drought and thereby avoid to some extent a human and economic disaster.
Bloomberg.com angle on Nuclear post Japan 2011
The debate of how much nuclear energy will play a role in our economy following the Nuclear crisis in Japan is going to get hot. This interview with Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Chris Gadomski discusses the outlook for nuclear power use in the U.S. Gadomski also speaks about prospects for solar energy.
CNBC Africa Interview on Climate Change
CATCH KAYEMA ENERGY SOLUTIONS
CEO DANIEL SCHWAB
ON CNBC AFRICA
(Channel 410 on DSTV)
TODAY WED 2 FEB AT 1PM
Join Daniel together with Alex McNamara, Senior Consultant at Camco Global as they tackle many of the key issues around South African business and its response to climate change.
Topics will include:
What are the likely primary impacts of climate change?
What is the global political consensus on these issues?
What happened at Copenhagen?
What is carbon trading?
What role has South Africa played in the global discussions to date?
Are concerns about climate change more important than development and poverty alleviation?
How committed are South African politicians, business and other leaders to this issue?
Sectors at risk and sectors with promise
The way forward Challenges for individuals, communities, governments and companies. Integrating Climate Change agendas with development and poverty alleviation goals. Where to invest to take advantage of economic shifts brought on by climate change and secondary effects.
Calculating Energy Savings of Solar Water Heating
The following table provides a way to calculate energy savings for installing a solar water heater.
Solar Water Heating Energy Savings Calculations
Response Letter to Collusion Allegations
26 January 2010
To Whom it May Concern:
I am the GM of a respectable player in the solar industry, and would like to be first in line to stomp out any collusion or price fixing, however I have serious questions to the accuracy of the claims. The mere fact alone that there are currently so many companies offering solar services means that this industry is highly competitive, and that home owners are smart enough to get multiple quotes before selecting their solar water heating provider of choice, and that price is always the first and most important factor considered.
In response to Deputy Director Aphane’s allegations on collusion in the solar water heating industry, I have the following questions:
1. Can Mr. Aphane provide some actual figures to substantiate his claims.
2. Is the 40% an average across all types of systems, or does it refer to a specific type system, systems from a specific country of origin, or systems all using a particular component which may have increased in price?
3. Does the 40% mentioned include the cost of additional requirements (SABS testing & Mark requirements, controller/timer supply & installation, relevant association membership fees, certificates of compliance etc), all required by Eskom in order for systems to qualify for the DSM rebate, or is it over and above?
4. Does the 40% take into account the fact that the price of copper has increased 35%, from around $7000/t in 2008 to around $9500/t in 2010, and the significant knock on effect for all solar and plumbing components because of this, or is it over and above?
I can understand that the prices are higher in South Africa than overseas as our market is still very small and unit pricing is function of sales volume – this is a major concern for us and is already being addressed with the advice and assistance of industry partners from overseas.
While I can certainly confirm that my company is NOT involved in any sort of price fixing, I am concerned that these statements, without substantiation and/or specific offenders mentioned, will lead to negative press and effects for the whole solar industry, when the reality is that people have been working incredibly hard to help government achieve its targets.
Best Regards,
James Shirley
General Manager
Kayema Energy Solutions
Radio 702 Interview
Here’s the links to Craig and my interview on Radio 702:
Radio 702 Interview January 24 2011 Part1
Lot’s of fun and interesting comments made by listeners.
Kayema Updates