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More and more South Africans are turning to solar power in an attempt to free themselves of the unreliable national power grid. And it is not limited to our cities and towns. A rising number of producers are following suit. Evidently, if it is done smartly, the initial cost of a solar power system is offset after only a few years.
Garth Cloete, an honorary member of Merino SA, invited Stockfarm to visit two farms in the Richmond district that are no longer dependent on the power network. I spoke with these producers to find out how the setup works and what others can do to live off the grid.
Read more about renewable energy solutions here.
Installing your solar power
Twenty kilometres north of Richmond, André Sieberhagen and his son, Georg, are following in their father and grandfather’s footsteps with the Vlakfontein Merino stud. André says at the outset, no producer wants to struggle when switching to solar power.
“We started out by visiting other producers who had solar power installations to see how it actually works. Afterwards we approached a service provider in De Aar for a quotation to install a similar system. For us it was crucial to find someone with reliable after-sales service.”
It took approximately two weeks to install the system. Something that comes in very handy is the fact that their service provider can access the system telephonically should any problems arise.
The 50kW solar panels were installed using anti-theft clamps on the outbuildings at an incline of 23,3 degrees in a north-northeast direction. “It is a 90kVA, three-phase system with excellent power output,” says André. “During a full day of sunshine, the panels can generate up to around 48kW. I would recommend installing more rather than fewer panels, so that you can use the power for larger systems throughout the day.”
Read more about precision agriculture here.
Powering the entire farm
In addition to the solar water pumps in the veld, which work separately from the system, the solar power system, among other things, switches on the motor of a 55kW hammer mill which they use to grind lucerne for the sheep. André can access the system via his cellphone several times a day to check, for example, whether the pivot is operational.
“I cannot turn the pivot on early in the morning when the sun hasn’t yet risen completely. I first have to access the solar power application on my phone to check how much power is available before turning on the irrigation, which is also done via my phone. Your system must allow the batteries to be more or less fully charged come nightfall, so that you will have power through the night.”
Some of the equipment that draws power through the night are the transformers, a cold room, and freezers and geysers that are on time switches and that automatically switch off during the night. The geysers are set at 70°C during the day, because if they are hot enough during the day, they will be warm enough through the night.
It is also best to include a generator as part of the solar power system and to add its costs to the amount paid for the complete system, recommends André. “I think you need to add a generator to your solar power. This way, on cloudy days when the batteries cannot fully charge, you’ll have a backup. The generator can also kick in if the battery power drops too low during the night.
“We invested in a 25kVA generator that can be switched on via cellphone. For example, if the power is at 20% and we see it is not going last us until sunrise, I turn on the generator. Or you can set it to turn on automatically at 15 or 20% battery power. It also switches off automatically at a certain percentage of power.”
Read more about more natural farming approaches here.
Uninterrupted power supply
Joshua and Tinkie Naudé farm on Welgelegen, also in the Richmond district, and over the years the couple has focussed on adding value to their farming enterprise. It took dedication and a lot of patience, but today Welgelegen is largely mechanised, with a system that enables them to make their own animal feed, along with a solar power system that has taken them off the national power grid.
“Looking at any family farming business today, it is obvious that things no longer work the way they did in the past,” Joshua said during our visit. “We’ve taken a step-by-step approach to making changes, and this took a long time. You must remember that a livestock farming enterprise will always throw new challenges your way, and you must handle it to the best of your ability.”
Tinkie and Joshua run two separate businesses that complement each other. Tinkie frequently buys lambs from Joshua’s flock for her on-farm meat processing facility, which means that Joshua is assured of a market for his lambs.
The well-equipped processing plant has cold rooms and freezers that must remain switched on permanently. And this is where the unreliable national power supply came into play. According to Tinkie, it was impossible for them to leave the farm or to relax. “Apart from load shedding, we had our fair share of power outages,” she says. “I work with a perishable product and cannot afford to be without refrigeration. That is why we started looking for alternatives.”
The freezers have to stay on at night, and so they weighed up different options. The solar power system eventually won, and its installation means that Welgelegen is no longer dependent on the national power grid. The cost of implementing the entire system amounted to R1,6 million (excluding VAT), and includes a mobile application through which it can be managed.
An array of benefits
When deciding on whether to install a soler power system, the financial aspect is sure to play the biggest role. For people who use a lot of electricity, especially at night, a solar power system makes economic sense. In the case of the Naudés the system was paid off after about ten years.
Such a system also offers great peace of mind when it comes to security, because it is on all the time. You can leave the farm and control the solar power via your cellphone from anywhere in the country. When using solar power, there is for example no need to switch on a generator to keep the lights or freezers on. There are no additional pump costs, and someone who has irrigation no longer has to fear the monthly Eskom bill. – Carin Venter, Stockfarm
For more information, contact André Sieberhagen on 072 195 9596, Jozua Naudé on 084 200 2375 or Tinkie Naudé on 084 657 5792.
