how to beat load shedding

During the load reduction, I lost five hours of production per day and I think it\'s time to find a solution for my home office.
This led to a broader investigation of the overall choice of power.
Simple and fast solution: the easiest solution for about R10 000 is to buy a \"plug-and-play\" inverter or UPS (
Uninterrupted power supply).
Between R8 000 and R10 000, you can buy a 2. 4 kilo-volt-ampere (kVA)
Includes two cells and a unit of an inverter that converts a DC battery power supply to an AC power supply.
This will produce 1.
2 KW hours (kW/h)
Enough to run a few lights, your computer and Wi-Fi.
You can connect it to the plug point for charging, and you can plug the device into the device when the power is off.
Just make sure you buy a decent brand instead of a cheap knock on the dooroff.
It\'s worth spending a little more for reliability.
Inverter home solution: If you don\'t just want your computer to continue running, or have two offices at home like I do, you may need to consider upgrading to the inverter system for the input DC board.
You need an electrician to install it and you have to get approval from the municipal government.
This is really a larger version of plug-and-play, and the more batteries you buy, the more power you will be able to power on.
According to switchandsave in Western Cape province. co.
System za website for production 2.
The 4 KW/hour energy will power 10 to 15 LED lights, TVs, refrigerators and laptops.
The system that produces 4.
8 KW/h power is enough to meet energy needsEfficient threebedroom home.
Basically, you can run the whole house in addition to heating equipment such as fountains, ovens, microwave ovens and electric furnaces.
The cost is determined by the number of batteries and the type of battery.
For example, if we choose a lithium battery, the quotation for a lead-acid battery of 5 KW/h and an R55 000 system is about R35 000.
The service life of lithium batteries is twice that of the originalterm saving.
Create your own power: R60 000 to R200 000 the above options use Eskom to power the battery and will not save you any money.
They are not enough for extended load cuts.
One option is to buy a generator and connect it to your grid.
The upfront cost is not high, we have a quote for R20 000
The cost of going is very expensive.
It consumes diesel at a speed of 2 liters per hour.
If you have a five-hour load cut, it will cost you R160 every day.
Another problem is that you can only store 20 liters of diesel on your property, so you will often go to the gas station.
This is also a challenge if we have a shortage of diesel.
Another option is solar energy.
According to Jack Radmore of GreenCape, the average size of a family is between 4 and 7 KW (kWp).
This will require capital costs between fully installed R60 000 and r10000.
This means electricity charges (
Per unit or kW/hour)of R1.
At least 30 years in the next 15 years.
However, this number does not include batteries.
To use solar energy during the load cut, it must draw power from the battery.
If you use solar, you need to use a more expensive lithium battery, which will cost R50 000.
Radmore does not recommend being completely out of the grid, \"Not only is this not the best --
The situation in South Africa as a whole is also very expensive.
The cost of the battery has not yet reached the economic feasibility of being out of the grid.
\"How to make a decision,\" said Mark Willoughby, general manager at One Energy, who said you need to start by deciding on your goals.
In the short term, it may be about keeping the lights on during the load reduction, but in the medium term it may be about reducing the cost of electricity.
According to the current price increase, we will pay about R3 per kilowatt/hour in a few years.
At this price, solar cells are beginning to make a lot of sense.
If you want to reduce the cost of electricity, the starting point will turn to the Solar Fountain, Willoughby said.
Around r24000, this is the cheapest way to lower Eskom bills.
Willoughby said that you will cut about R600 to R800 from the electricity bill of R2 000 to R2 500 per month.
If you think the r24000 investment will actually save you R7 200 to R9 600 a year-this is 30% to 40% of the return on investment, taxes --free.
The next step is to improve the energy efficiency of your entire house by using LED lights, gas stoves and upgrading to new energy sources
Efficient appliances.
When it comes to generating your own electricity, if you have a budget, you can start with a \"grid-connected\" system with solar panels and no batteries.
This will provide power during the day and you can change the way you use it to make sure that your washing machine, dishwasher, pool pump and other appliances operate during the day when the sun generates maximum power.
By using solar energy during the day, you may also fall into the lower layer
Grade rate for electricity charges.
While this saves you money the downside is that when the grid is running, you only have power during the day, and you will not be protected from power outages because the system is not allowed to operate when the grid is closed.
Willoughby says it\'s not always clear to the customer, \"for whatever reason, once the grid is off ,[
Cable anti-theft, etc)
The reference signal disappears, \"grid-
As required by law, the tie \"system is automatically turned off.
\"You can imagine how angry consumers are when this happens the first time during the day, and he expects the system to continue to power and shut down,\" he said . \".
That\'s why hybrid systems, while more expensive, are a better choice.
This can be achieved by battery or generator.
You can install the generator during the load reduction, although the diesel cost is high, as long as we do not enter the period of long power outage, it can be used as a supplement to the daily work
Solar power generation.
As a pre-cost, the generator is cheaper than the battery, but the cost is constant, the noise is high and the pollution is serious.
The \"clean\" solution is to buy a lithium battery, which is more expensive than a generator, but your solar panel will charge \"free\" during the day.
Again, how many batteries can you choose-up you require.
You can create one.
An expensive solar system, for example, has just enough power to make some of your circuits run like lights and televisions, and costs about R60 000.
If you want to power your entire home, in addition to the oven, you can spend anywhere from R100 000 to R200 000 depending on the energy efficiency of your home.
To make the entire solar cell system cheaper than using Eskom, the price of electricity needs to reach r3, Willoughby said.
50 units per kW/h-probably in about five years.
So, you can now invest for convenience, and then you can really benefit financially as electricity prices go up.
You can also follow an extensible option to start with several panels and assemble or add batteries later.
The key is to make sure you start with the right inverter that is able to convert solar and battery power into a home grid.
All you need to do is make sure you get good advice in advance.
\"We often see the gap between expectation and reality, which has a big impact on us because consumers think he is buying a system to manage his entire house, and in fact, his system runs for hours and lights.
This has caused great reputational damage to the industry, \"Willoughby said.
The key is to figure out how much power you really need and how much power consumption you can reduce through some changes.
Before you spend tens of thousands on your solar system, let your electricity consumption be monitored for a week so you can get advice on what system works best for you.
Most quality suppliers will provide this service as part of the service or deduct any fees from the installation cost.
Make sure you get good advice and be careful with fliesby-
Try to take advantage of the current needs of the night.
Work with reputable suppliers only, rather than spending more money trying to do so at a cheap price-a huge investment.
In some cities, particularly in the Western Cape province, the sale of electricity to the power grid has the option of feeding back electricity to the power grid used by the municipalities to offset electricity charges.
Each city has its own interest rate, some higher than others.
For example, the city of Cape Town charges a fixed fee r12 per day.
36 power supply to the grid and pay you 70 c/kW/h
You need a very large unit to make money considering the fixed daily expenses, so don\'t expect this to pay off your solar unit.
The energy of each panel produces 330 W per hour.
In South Africa, you multiply it by five peaks of the sun. hours.
How to fund your solar panel if you need to finance, the best option is to use your housing loan, however, according to Stanley Mabulu, head of loan channel management at FNB private bank, the bank will still follow the National Credit Act and apply the affordability rules.
They will consider whether there is equity in the property that allows redistribution.
Advances or further loans to finance solar panel systems.
Savings are generally not considered a part of affordability, but you can use these savings to increase the repayment of housing loans and pay off the cost of solar energy in a shorter period of time.
Good reference. green-cape. co. za and www. switchandsave. co.