A solar water heating (SWH) installation at the South African National Defence Force’s air force base in Hoedspruit has proven to improve efficiency, as well as act as a catalyst for upskilling personnel from the Department of Defence (DoD).
The training has produced 20 artisans, who have successfully completed a thermosiphon course, for the DoD.
“The South African Air Force stands proud to be the first [entity] in the DoD to embrace this innovative solution to reduce the utility bill; we are definitely up-skilling when it comes to training our artisans and if we can use the sun to heat our water, in the process save on our ever-decreasing budget, why not?
“We are all about the Green Soldiering Initiative; we really need an integrated approach of working with other government departments and tighten the belt where necessary,” Major General Tersia Jacobs says.
The South African National Energy Development Institute, the Solar Thermal Demonstration and Training Initiative (Soltrain) and the DoD collaborated on the implementation of the SWH system at the base.
The system was designed to reduce electricity use and provide reliable hot water, while supporting the need for water heating at some bungalows on the Hoedspruit base. The thermal system should last up to 20 years.
Soltrain, in particular, aims to create opportunities through catalysing growth of the SWH sector, across six Southern African Development Community countries.