August 27, 2007
By Emily Visser
SOLAR geysers have been fitted to 170 homes in extension two, Cosmo City over the last three months. For some of the residents, this is the first time they have hot water in their homes.
The project is the first of its kind in Johannesburg and cost the city about R2-million; each unit, consisting of a geyser and a solar panel, cost R13 000.
Extension two residents come from informal settlements; they began moving into the newly built Reconstruction and Development Programme houses in November 2005, and to date more than 2 000 of these homes have been occupied. Although equipped with water, sanitation and electricity, they have no geysers.
Manda Mandavha, the Cosmo City manager in the City's department of environmental management, says that over time, the project result in savings to the environment and consumers. Electric geysers use about a third of a household's total electricity consumption; direct solar heating generally reduces electricity consumption by between 10 and 30 percent.
Little maintenance
Once installed, the units require little maintenance. "The system has to be flushed out every two years or so by opening a small tap or valve [to replace the water]," explains Shaun Rieche, a partner at Solar Heat Exchanger, which installed the units. The company has designed a simple owner manual, copies of which will be handed over to recipients at a community meeting.
Installation underway
The solar heating units are not backed up by electricity because of a lack of funding and the limited power supply in those areas. If the sun does not shine there is no hot water, but on sunny days users can expect water temperatures of 55° Celsius and higher.
Rieche says the project brought many happy smiles but also some criticism, as not everyone could be accommodated. The initial tender was for 500 units but this number had to be cut because of cost constraints.
The City used two criteria for allocating the units. "A first-come-first-served system was used, and only north-facing houses [were considered]," Mandavhe explains. Installing units at homes facing west-east would have added another R600 to the cost because it would have been necessary to install a special roof bracket.
Extending the project
The department is working closely with electricity supplier Eskom and Sustainable Energy Africa, a non-governmental organisation, to extend the project to other areas.
Sustainable Energy Africa is drawing up a business plan on behalf of the City that will be submitted to Eskom for funding of future projects, confirmed Mandavha. Eskom offers financial assistance to approved Demand Side Management (DSM) projects.
By-laws regarding solar water heaters were recently approved by the Cape Town city council, and that city will enforce the use of solar heaters in all newly built houses and in new building additions. There will be some exemptions, however. Tshwane is looking at similar regulations, which it hopes to have in place by 2008.
The City of Johannesburg will be looking at by-law enforcement in the near future. "Right now we are working on an energy efficiency strategy for the entire city but [solar water heating] by-laws are the route we are heading to," Mandavha confirms.
On a national level, the Department of Minerals and Energy has started a roll out programme of solar heaters for middle- to high-income households in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The initiative is spearheaded by the Central Energy Fund.
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