Category: Solar Insights

A battery’s lifespan is not settled by the cycle count printed in a brochure. What actually determines how long it lasts is what happens to it in the field: how hot it gets, how it is charged day after day, what current levels it operates at, how the system is…

When it comes to electricity in South Africa, the price you pay isn’t a single flat “rate per kWh”. Your tariff is a pricing structure made up of different charges (energy, network, service/admin and, for many larger users, demand-related charges). Those charges can change depending on whether you’re supplied directly…

Battery and inverter compatibility is measured in control stability, not startup success. The inverter must manage the battery reliably across fast load changes, PV variability, outages, and thermal conditions. The majority of commissioning delays and repeat callouts are caused by a small group of preventable mismatches: voltage class, communication configuration,…

Commercial businesses win (or lose) on operational efficiency and reliability. Energy sits right in the middle of both. When electricity prices rise, when grid reliability becomes unpredictable, or when production is interrupted, the impact shows up quickly in costs, service levels, and customer satisfaction. Solar is not just a sustainability…

In South Africa, “net metering” is often used to describe any situation where solar customers can feed electricity back into the grid and get some kind of credit. In practice, though, what you get depends on who supplies your electricity (a municipality or Eskom) and what tariff and export rules…

What works well for smaller energy systems does not always scale comfortably as system size and complexity increase. Over time, many businesses, utilities, and large energy users find that traditional battery installations become less practical. In these cases, containerised energy storage systems may offer a more suitable alternative. That said,…

When people talk about solar ROI, the conversation often gets trapped in one narrow metric: monthly utility savings. That’s important, but it’s not the full picture, especially in many African markets where grid constraints, tariff escalation, and downtime risk are part of day-to-day operations. A properly designed solar system isn’t…

China is making major adjustments to its export rebate policy, a move that’s likely to influence the pricing of Chinese PV and battery exports. In a joint announcement by the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration, China said VAT export rebates for photovoltaic (PV) products will be cancelled…

While solar PV systems provide dependable, renewable energy over many years, their outdoor placement exposes them to environmental risks, lightning being one of the most serious. A single strike (or even a strike nearby) can introduce high-energy surges that damage inverters, monitoring equipment, combiner boxes, DC strings, and even sensitive…

The global solar industry is moving into 2026 with a level of maturity that would have seemed ambitious just a decade ago. Solar power is no longer viewed as an alternative or experimental energy source. Across many regions, including Africa, it is increasingly becoming the backbone of new power infrastructure.…