Energy efficiency technology company Plentify CEO and co-founder Jon Kornik believes the solution to South Africa's energy crisis goes beyond just bringing an end to loadshedding.  

Instead, he says, the focus should be on enabling the country to transition to a clean, affordable and reliable energy system. 

"The outcome will be much better and we will solve loadshedding along the way, because the steps that you would take towards that energy transition are exactly the steps that you would want to take to alleviate your journey as well," Kornik says. 

GENERATION AND STORAGE 

To begin the transition, there is a need for an increase in generation capacity. While solar embedded generation is seen as a solution, Kornik warns that it could lead to a decrease in revenue for municipalities and potentially push them into bankruptcy.  

Instead, he highlights the importance of promoting energy storage to store generated supply and use it during peak times. 

Energy storage not only alleviates the energy crisis but also serves as a solution to South Africa's struggling economy. According to Kornik, the country's battery imports as a percentage of gross domestic product are higher than that of the US, which is considered a leader in energy storage. 

Kornik emphasises the need to make energy storage accessible to all, rather than just being a daytime solution for those who can afford it.  

He believes the government's Energy Action Plan, announced in July 2022, is a step in the right direction, but that there is still much work to be done to modernise and decarbonise South Africa's electricity grid. 

DEMAND FLEXIBILITY 

"A key part of solving South Africa's electricity crisis is demand flexibility – a component that is not spoken about as much as it should be,” Kornik says.  

"Very few players are talking about what demand flexibility actually means and how they can contribute to the solution. We believe it can contribute the same impact as storage, but at a fraction of the cost. Shifting demand to supply with appliances is anywhere from five to ten times cheaper per kilowatt-hour than with a battery." 

He says South Africa is uniquely positioned to have a large impact with demand flexibility.  

"We have about six-million geysers in the country, making us a top ten country in the world in terms of the number of geysers deployed. If you compare the 18 GW of the installed nameplate capacity of our geysers to our effective generation capacity of 25 GW – I can't imagine any other country in the world has a ratio even close to that," Kornik says. 

Plentify’s Hotbot is an intelligent device designed to enhance the performance of geysers. The device leverages artificial intelligence to synchronise the needs of users with those of the grid, guaranteeing the availability of hot water at the desired time​ while reducing energy use​.  

The accompanying application (app) enables users to specify their hot water requirements easily. The app also allows users to ​track their savings, ​monitor their use and make changes to the system as they see fit. By using off-peak power, Plentify's solution is aimed at being cost-effective and reducing the burden on the grid. 

"If you were to deploy this device in 10% of geysers, you've eliminated one stage of loadshedding,” Kornik says.  

"It's not just about how much demand geysers use, but when they use it. At a household level, geysers account for 40% to 60% of one’s electricity bill and are the single largest consumer within the home." 

Kornik adds that ripple control, which helps with demand flexibility, is not effective anymore because the systems are not widely in place​, and while it is good at shifting demand away from peaks it is ineffective at shifting it towards clean energy​. 

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY 

Loadshedding presents a unique opportunity to hasten the process of the energy transition, and to implement some of these kinds of solutions, putting South Africa ahead of the curve, he says.  

Kornik notes that, although the transition brings with it significant challenges, many countries across the world are undergoing a similar transformation in their energy systems. This has led to instances of large-scale power outages, such as in Texas and California in the US, reflecting the pressure placed on electricity systems during the energy transition, he explains. 

"In South Africa, we've got all that on steroids. Not only do we have all the energy transition forces – trying to put intermittent renewables into a system that's designed for centralized generation – but on top of that, we have South Africa-specific problems of the energy availability factor falling and, therefore, shortage of supply relative to demand," Kornik says. 

Despite the challenges, Kornik believes the energy crisis presents an opportunity for South Africa to transition its energy effectively and quickly, setting the country up for competitiveness in the future. The crisis has also allowed for the overcoming of political hurdles and the reduction of red tape. 

With President Cyril Ramaphosa having officially declared the electricity crisis a national disaster during his State of the Nation Address on February 9, emergency powers are expected to allow for even more decisive action – for better or worse.