There isn’t a single South African that has remained untouched by months of surviving and planning a life around Eskom load shedding, which is obviously leading to more people investing in solar power, which leads to the next question; how many hours of sunlight do solar panels need?
The disruption of life at home and work isn’t all that is affected by these endless rounds of load shedding. Our budgets are also being decimated by the continual increases unashamedly brought to bear on electricity tariffs, which has simply made solar PV systems more attractive by the day.
Plunging towns and cities into darkness for hours at a time has also led to an increase in crime, placing an even greater burden on our lives and adding a new level of fear to daily life. Besides the inconvenience of not being able to cook when wanted or watch TV or use WiFi.
When this is all added together, it makes sense that solar power is definitely the best energy alternative facing us, and one that should be taken seriously, not merely as a sales pitch.
How many hours of sunlight do solar panels need?
When we look at the question of how many hours of sunlight solar panels need, we need to rejoice in the fact that South Africa is considered one of the best places in the whole world for the development and use of solar power!
It’s not called ‘Sunny South Africa’ for nothing! In fact, according to Climatebiz.com, “The entire sub-Saharan Africa, with no exception for South Africa, has great potential for solar power implementation.
South Africa sees on average between 1543 – 2264 kWh/m2 a year. Simplified, this translates to 4.1 – 6.3 peak sun hours a day, with the Northern Cape experiencing the higher end of that spectrum and Kwazulu-Natal seeing the lower end.”
The best news is that with these averages in peak sun hours a day, you’ll be getting, at the very least, 4 hours of peak sunlight per day, which is exactly how many hours of sunlight solar panels need to operate optimally!
More good news, according to Gov.za, is that our country only has an annual rainfall of 464mm, which, when compared to the world average of 806mm, means we have a far higher rate of peak sun hours with which to power solar panels!
This means that with the right guidance and the right solar PV system, you stand a far greater chance of reclaiming a normal life, as far as keeping the lights on and saving a lot of money. It also means that before too long, you’ll be able to rely on the sun as your source of electricity, free of charge!
Renaissance Solar PV Systems in Cape Town
Renaissance Solar is made up of a team of solar experts who have been designing, supplying and installing high quality solar PV systems in Cape Town since 2009, and their passion is to supply customers with the ideal solar system to meet their power requirements, and their budget.
Whether it’s a Hybrid PV solar system or Grid Tie PV system or a Load-Shedder, you’ll have a team on your side that will offer you the highest quality in solar products, while maintaining their absolute commitment to keeping their prices low, brought about by a passion for wanting to change lives for the better, with solar power.
Renaissance Solar also offers the option of the Load-Shedding PV system, which will give you sufficient power to get through load shedding comfortably.
If you’d like to start on a smaller scale, installing a solar hot water system is already going to shave up to 40% off your electricity bill, just by heating your water with the power of the sun!
No matter where you’d like to start, contact Renaissance Solar today to chat to this friendly team of professionals who really care about their customers, so much so that they’ll also be more than happy to discuss the various financial offerings available, to make changing to solar power easier on the budget.
