Green energy such as solar panels, batteries and inverters are becoming more and more necessary as electricity blackouts continue to plague South Africa.
The good news however is that this type of energy is becoming more affordable for the person wanting to power his house, and the businessman wanting to power his company, says chief product officer of Rubicon, Nick Roche.
Roche was speaking to TygerBurger on Friday 3 May following a visit to the Rubicon head office in Richmond Park by the City of Cape Town’s Mayco member for energy, Beverley van Reenen. Van Reenen was accompanied by the executive director for energy, Kadri Nassiep.
Rubicon is a vertically integrated sustainable technology company with a footprint of 23 facilities spanning more than 30 000 square meters in size, employing more than 550 people. The purpose of the visit on Friday was to see the local manufacture of sustainable energy technologies, the City says.
“We were pleased to host the City this morning, just getting some officials through the building, showing off our technology, letting them see that we are building interesting stuff here, that we are adding value to the economy, and that we are creating employment.
“We are very chaffed that we have got technology that is unique and that it is strong, it has a lot of applicability in terms of renewable energy industry in general, but also as solutions to the load shedding issue, we are providing a lot of stuff that is related to that, managing the impact on the grid,” says Roche.
He says load shedding is a necessary evil, but that it has a knock-on effect, unintended consequences. “For example, after load shedding you have this huge in-rush on the grid that has negative consequences, we have technology to help solve that problem.”
Costs
Asked about the cost of green energy such as solar panels, batteries and inverters, Roche commented that the market has become more competitive over the years.
“The reality is, right now it is the cheapest that it has ever been by a long while. There was a glut of equipment that came onto the market, at the end of last year, worldwide and locally and we have seen it in Europe too, and that has forced the pricing down significantly. So, for example, the cost of solar panels has roughly halved over about six months, which is very significant in terms of the guy who is investing for his home. It makes it much more affordable.
“Similar things have happened with batteries; battery prices have come right down and even inverters are more aggressively priced and more competitive that what they have been.
“Is it going to come down further? It is very difficult to know. There are some people who say yes, some who say no. But what I can tell you is that the prices are significantly moving down. There are very aggressive players and installers now who are offering systems for R60 000, R70 000, those kinds of figures, and they will finance it. So, it is much more affordable than it has ever been, and the equipment has gotten a lot better, so there is less risk in investing.”
Rubicon is in the newly established Richmond Park next to the N7 highway. More factories have gone up since the business park had been established, and Roche says they believe their opening up there was a good investment.
“It is a super convenient environment; our business is quite widespread. We are a national company. We have a branch in Windhoek, one in the United Kingdom, so it forms a very convenient head office for us, we love the area, the location is good, the infrastructure is good. They just finished the bridge over the N7 which makes a huge difference, so we like the area. Would we do it again, yes,” he says.
Councillor
A very optimistic Van Reenen told the newspaper that their visit was to see what technology is out there, and the projects that have been initiated by the company. “The fact that it is locally manufactured and produced, the inverters and other technology, I think it is amazing. I am really pleased to be here this morning. What they are doing here at Rubicon, it fits in with our plans of ending load shedding over time, and the fact that it is local is very amazing,” Van Reenen says.
She says as councillor for energy, she is confident about the future of solar electrical power, and renewable energy. “As a City we have a number of programmes in place and this I am sure will be achieved between 2025 and 2026, and so we will be able to protect our customers in the City of Cape Town from the first four stages of Eskom’s load shedding.”
Van Reenen says the infrastructure in place in and around Richmond Park is another bonus point.
“All of this puts us many steps ahead of other provinces, I think as a City we are very proud, that we will achieve those objectives of getting, not necessarily off the grid, but be less reliant on Eskom.
“Organisations and companies such as this, it helps us as a City to achieve those objectives and goals, and I am positive, I am very proud and pleased to be here this morning, to see this technology and see what they have achieved, because this will assist us in getting to where we need to be, and in a sustainable way,” Van Reenen says.
