The transition from fossil fuel to clean energy is about more than just technology. People and their behavior, and government and its policies, are all at the heart of it, writes Professor Prathaban Moodley, General Manager of Applied Energy Research, Development and Innovation at the South African National Energy Development Institution (SANEDI).

The worst day of sunshine in South Africa is better than the best day of sunshine in Germany, runs a saying among solar-energy industry insiders. Yet, despite this obvious truth, South Africa lags many other less-sunny parts of the world when it comes to harnessing the sun’s energy.

There are several reasons for this, among them the fact that for many decades South Africa was the world’s lowest-cost producer of coal-fired electricity and supply outstripped demand. There was little need to use electricity wisely, adopt demand-side management measures or, indeed, invest in renewable alternatives. The legacy of those times casts a long shadow over the current energy landscape. The adoption of photovoltaic (PV) technology is a useful case in point.

The technology to convert sunlight into electricity has been around for a long time but over the last decade or so, it has matured into a truly viable alternative to fossil fuels from a cost and efficiency point of view, not to mention surety of supply in sunny South Africa. Following the widespread utility-scale adoption of PV in the form of large PV farms between 2010 and 2015, recent years have seen a drive for smaller scale applications, notably solar panels on the roofs of commercial, industrial and residential buildings. Lately, the shift has been boosted by businesses and households needing to protect themselves from the devastation of load shedding.

Despite its elegance and usefulness, smaller-scale PV technology remains expensive. The cost of panels has come down substantially in recent times, but inverters and batteries still carry a heavy price tag. Government’s 15% tax rebate only on solar modules/panels helps to soften the capital-investment blow but it has at least two unintended consequences. The first is that it widens the chasm that already exists between the affluent and the poor in South Africa, in that the upfront capital outlay is beyond the reach of the majority of the population. People with access to capital will be better off, while the rest will be left even further behind – although there is a benefit to the whole country whenever load is taken off the grid. The second is that a year-long incentive does not stimulate economic activity around PV technology. All it does is create a rush to purchase and thus a bias towards importing as quickly as possible as the local South African industry cannot meet PV-component demand. Following this logic, a five-year, or ideally 10-year, incentive is needed before component manufacturers will deem it worth their while to set up factories and develop local skills to create a sustainable local industry