South Africa requires more green battery power storage solutions; however, companies value operational efficiency before environmental benefits, with sustainability required to support uptime, productivity and cost control.

This is according to lithium-ion (li-ion) battery and systems manufacturer maxwell+spark GM David Woods.

“In developing green battery storage products for the South African market, we’ve had to put return on investment (RoI) first – and, as a result, are producing products that operate in environments that US or European markets would describe as ‘worst-case scenario’.

“These products have to be robust and rugged to serve the South African market, where expectations for performance and up-time are high – and costs low,” he explains.

“An eight- to ten-year RoI timeline in the green space is considered really good – but if you’re able to deliver in five years or less, you’re doing brilliantly. And we’ve proven that we can, because if a battery storage system survives in South African conditions, it can survive anywhere,” he adds.

Woods highlights locality as a key element to the company’s li-ion battery storage products.

He points out that having the bulk of engineering and manufacturing based in South Africa, and using the country’s well-skilled engineers, enables the company to produce the majority of the elements it requires at lower costs than it would be able to in the US or Europe.

Woods stresses the importance of building the economy and value chain when developing these green solutions.

“This means designing locally for local conditions, establishing local manufacturing facilities run by local teams and outsourcing production of components to local industry. You also need to train up local installation teams and establish a local after-sales support network,” he suggests. 

Woods says this creates local jobs and supports local businesses throughout the value chain, creating a local ecosystem.

Moreover, a local base ensures expertise is readily available to support customers should challenges or issues arise, he points out. 

“The green transition only works when it enhances the ecosystem around it, and a focus on South African manufacturing and assembly can help move the process forward. We’re not yet able to cost-effectively manufacture battery cells here, so those are imported – but everything else can and should be done in South Africa,” Woods asserts.