The success of recently completed solar and wind projects in the country confirms that South Africa needs to continue investing in renewable energy, says solar modules and solar cells producer Talesun Energy VP Arthur Chien.

South Africa’s renewable energy sector, which is derived from the sun, the wind, the sea and biomass, will develop significantly, should more local businesses buy into the vision that renewable sources are the answer to the country’s energy dilemmas and future energy security, explains Chien.

He adds that renewable energy is not too expensive to invest in. “South Africa’s energy intensive economy is still too reliant on coal as its main energy source and the country’s energy funders mostly finance fossil infrastructure, which is a short-term solution to the country’s energy crisis, as opposed to promoting renewable infrastructure.”

He says renewable energy will soon be cheaper than electricity from State-owned utility Eskom and points to specialist fund manager Mergence Investment, who recently said Eskom’s tariffs are expected to increase at a higher rate than inflation. New generation capacity from the Medupi and Kusile power plants, is on average expected to cost in the region of R0.97/kWh.

“This cost will overtake that of photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy, as the current average wind energy tariff is R0.65/kWh and the average solar energy tariff is R0.80/kWh,” adds Chien.

Renewable energy is a viable energy supply even during times when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.

“It has been argued that unpredictable seasonal and daily weather changes will prevent renewable energy sources from generating enough electricity,” says Chien.

“This is not the case in South Africa, where the conditions for solar and wind energy are brilliant, with the irradiation levels of 2 500 hours of sunshine each year being among the highest worldwide and strong wind generation, especially along the coastal areas of Western and Eastern Cape where the wind is consistently strong,” he adds.

Chien enthuses that if enhanced with a mix of other renewable power generation and energy storage technologies, reliable electricity supply can be guaranteed.

For example, 40% of Denmark’s electricity is derived from a mix of renewable energy – largely solar and wind. Other countries, which are successfully using mix renewable energy, include Germany, Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom, south Australia and the US.

Further, Chien points out that it is believed by critics that renewable energy requires too much land to produce electricity.

He says that this is completely opposite from the truth, citing a World Wide Fund for Nature 2013 report, which looks at land use requirements for nuclear, PV and wind systems.

“The report suggests that renewables like solar PV and wind tend to be less land intensive, as they are ‘fuel free’ and that once technologies are constructed, they do not require further extraction of resources and therefore require less land than conventional technologies do,” says Chien.

He adds that the deconstructing and decommissioning of power plants that are either ageing or definitively ceasing activity is an expensive and dangerous process.

“The deconstructing of one nuclear power plant costs multiple billion rand and can be a very dangerous process, as there is always the risk of radioactivity being released and harming someone,” says Chien.

The deconstruction and recycling of PV and wind renewable infrastructure will not cost a fraction of this amount and the recycling process of PV infrastructure - once it has reached the end of its 20 to 30 year lifecycle - is completely safe and not harmful to those involved in the process, he adds.

With only 13.5% of South Africa’s land being considered usable or suitable for food production, large regions across the country have been without any purpose for many years.

Areas in the Northern Cape, for example, are either too dry or infertile for planting crops and have soil that is too rocky, dense and hard for building purposes – very similar to northern KwaZulu-Natal, says Chien.

It is estimated that for every 101 171 m2 of land, a 5 MW solar farm which will power 1 515 homes for a year and save 2 150 t of carbon dioxide, can be installed.

“Although the vast open spaces in South Africa are seen as unusable, it provides the perfect location for commercial solar farms,” concludes Chien.