Diversified industrial company Premier Brands is in the advanced stages of becoming the South African distribution partner for Germany's renewable energy solutions provider Buderus.

The South African company is an importer and wholesaler of domestic and commercial air-conditioners and spare parts for the appliance industry, but has moved into the energy-efficiency market during the last two years.

CEO Moss Moloi says that the company was looking support efforts to alleviate the energy crisis. and is in advanced discussions with Buderus, which is a subsidiary of the Bosch group, which itself is hoping to introduce its products in new areas and has already launched in Mexico and Brazil.

"We have a product that exceeds the expectations of the South African consumer, and we are positioned higher than the technologies that are currently available to the market," says Buderus Latin America and Africa sales business developer Eduardo Gouveia.

Although Gouveia believes that the company has a "pretty good chance" of being successful in South Africa, he says that the company is still gathering information to present to Bosch on the South African renewable energies market.

The new venture will be supplying solar collectors and panels, water tanks, geysers, pumps, expansion vessels, control units and anything needed to run a solar system. It will also supply heat pumps and water pump condensing geysers used for both water heating and normal heating purposes.

Gouveia explains that its integrated technology solutions to increase efficiencies. For example, when burning gases, its geyser system can reuse the gases to reheat the water by sending it through the system again, increasing its efficiency to 110%.

The company's products, which are based on the European system, work in a closed system.

Its solar systems use indirect heating, meaning that there are two circuits running at all times - the water used to shower with is not the water that goes into the solar collector. The solar collector uses solar fluid to heat a coil inside the tank containing the water used for domestic purposes.

"This indirect heating provides a lot of advantages, such as hygiene, durability and control of the system. In areas where the country becomes extremely cold, solar heaters usually experience a freezing problem, which damages the pipes, however, our solar fluid contains anti-freezing properties that will allow the system to work for up to 25 years," he adds.

The renewable energy solutions that Premier Brands seeks to offer with Buderus are aimed at the commercial, industrial and residential areas.

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