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Invitation to webinar:
Market outlook in South Africa for solar PV and battery energy storage, as load shedding recedes.
DATE: 5 September 2024
TIME: 12h00 to 14h30
PLATFORM: Zoom Webinar 1000
COST: No cost, free-of-charge, all welcome
HOSTED BY: EE Business intelligence
SUPPORTED BY: Vantage GreenX, Climate Policy Initiative, Jaltech, GoSolr, Energy Group, GeoTerra Image
Register here to attend the webinar
Format
Following a welcome by Chris Yelland of EE Business Intelligence, and an opening address by Vantage GreenX, four expert presenters will each give 20-minute presentations. This will be followed by a summary with key takeaways by the Climate Policy Initiative, a 30-minute open discussion and Q&A session, and finally thanks and closure by Chris Yelland.
Presenters
· Vantage GreenX – Opening address focussing on the macro-economic picture of the Southern African market for renewable energy.
· GeoTerra Image (GTI) – Focussing on geospatial solar PV market analytics and market potential.
· GoSolr – Focussing on the residential solar PV and BES sector, and rental solutions.
· Jaltech – Focussing on commercial solar PV finance and PPA funding for EPCs and commercial and industrial property owners.
· Energy Group – Focusing large private sector behind-the-meter and wheeling installations in mining, industrial and utility scale solar PV and BES applications.
· Climate Policy Initiative – Summary and key takeaways from the presentations.
Register here to attend the webinar
Background and objectives
The demand for solar PV in South Africa was initially driven by government policy through the public Renewable Energy IPP Procurement (REIPPP) programme, within a single buyer model, with Eskom as the single buyer.
However, this bureaucratic stop/start procurement process became overtaken by the rapid uptake of “behind-the-meter” solar PV and battery energy storage (BES) solutions largely in the residential, commercial and agricultural sectors, driven by security-of-supply and business continuity considerations resulting from high levels of load shedding.
At the same time, the easing of generation licencing regulations opened the door to large-scale wheeling of power across the Eskom grid with bilateral and multilateral wheeling contracts between IPPs and large mining and industrial off-takers. These were driven by the need to hedge at least a portion of the off-taker's electricity supply against future price increases of grid (Eskom) electricity, as well as decarbonisation pressures away from coal-fired Eskom electricity.
Further developments of the concepts of virtual wheeling and token wheeling augured the possibility of wheeling across the Eskom grid to smaller electricity customers embedded within municipal distribution networks, and the advent of third-party electricity traders.
However, imminent changes in the fixed, variable and other components of electricity tariff structures, and the sudden reduction in load shedding from the beginning of 2024, has resulted in significant market uncertainty regarding the pace and scale of the roll-out of solar PV and BES solutions, and the failure of at least two major energy companies serving the residential and commercial sectors.
This webinar will consider the future market prospects for solar PV and BES in South Africa, and the view ahead for the residential, commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, industrial, mining and public procurement sectors, where the underlying policy, economic and decarbonisation drivers will likely continue, even as the security of supply driver fades.
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Target audience
· Government officials, regulators, policymakers, planners and standards bodies.
· Leaders and decision makers in business, mining, manufacturing, chemicals and energy.
· Development finance institutions, commercial banks, investment funds and financiers.
· Eskom and other state-owned enterprises.
· Municipalities and municipal electricity distributors.
· Economic, legal, financial, accounting, consulting and planning professionals.
· Universities, researchers and academia.
· NGOs, civil society and the interested general public.
Programme
12h00 – 12h05: Welcome: EE Business Intelligence
12h05 – 12h15: Opening address: Vantage GreenX.
12h15 – 12h35: Presenter 1: GeoTerra Image.
12h35 – 12h55: Presenter 2: GoSolr.
12h55 – 13h05: Comfort break.
13h05 – 13h25: Presenter 3: Jaltech.
13h25 – 13h45: Presenter 4: Energy Group.
13h45 – 13h55: Summary and key takeaways: Climate Policy Initiative.
13h55 – 14h25: Open discussion and Q & A.
14h25 – 14h30: Thanks and conclusion: EE Business Intelligence.
Register here to attend the webinar
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