When the huge Eskom price hikes were announced earlier this year, we did some calculations comparing the cost of installing free domestic solar water heating to the cost of building a coal-fired power station and found the following:

If the South African government were to install 4 million free Solar Water Heating (SWH) systems at a unit cost of about R15,000, these would cost about R60 billion and provide approximately 700W per square metre electric equivalent.  Hence 4 million SWHs have an electric equivalent of 1.4kW x 4 million = 5,600 MW or 5.6 GW.

By installing 4 million free domestic solar systems government could easily cut out the need for Kusile which has a price tag in excess of R125 billion. AND CO₂-emissions would be reduced and maintenance costs would be almost zero, and many more jobs would be created in all parts of South Africa.

The coal-intensive South African power sector produces 218 Million tonnes CO₂ annually. By the implementation of a free SWH systems programme an annual mitigation of at least 3 million tons of CO₂ emissions per 1 million SWH systems could be achieved.

1,000,000 geysers replaced: 1,000,000 x 2.5kW (electric geyser rating) x 4 hours per day x 365 (nr. of days per year) x 80% (this is the average annual solar yield) = 2920 Million kWh = 2920 Million kg CO2e = 2.92 Million tons CO2e.

All our calculations and sources are available on request.

On 1 July 2010, in partnership with Activist! and Urban Sprout, we launch a national campaign calling for the supply of 4 million free domestic solar water heating instead of continuing to invest in Kusile.

Have a look at a recent Mail & Guardian article which pointed out that the estimated costs for Kusile have escalated from an initial R80 billion to as much as R175 billion to-date. Scrapping Kusile would involve penalties of around R30 billion and while this is a huge cost, it will ultimately avoid our having to be stuck with consequences that could be far worse - waiting until as late as 2014 for Kusile to come on stream, carbon emissions for decades ahead, a 40 year millstone, further expenditure of over R100 billion. Instead, R60 billion could buy 4 million domestic solar water heating systems. The wisest choice seems obvious to us. If you agree, support the campaign - click on the link to the Activist website below and sign the petition today.