Why Solar PV is Such a Lucrative Option for South African Municipal Customers

South Africa produced some of the cheapest electricity in the world pre-2008, until its experienced energy shortages leading to constant under frequency load shedding and above inflation tariff increases. There has since been major research and development in the field of renewable energy generation. With new rules and regulations in place to favor renewable energy with its short lead times, ensuring environmental sustainability and energy security in the country. Municipalities are starting to see a surge in the installation of Small-Scale Embedded Generation, more especially rooftop solar PV technology. This is an alarming factor to municipalities in South Africa as the potential for revenue loss remains a major threat on their existing business model. In order to better understand what is driving business and bulk energy use customers to install solar PV and why is solar PV such a lucrative option to municipal customers in South Africa, an investigation was carried out. The eThekwini Municipality was used for this investigation.