A partnership to make solar panels and integrated renewable energy systems in South Africa more readily available was launched on March 22 between Magneto Renewable Energy (MRE), Chinese tier one solar panel manufacturer Longi and electrical systems supplier Lubanzi Inala.

Located in Midrand, the partnership is using an intermediate warehouse to stock Longi solar panels and Lubanzi inverter systems, but plans to move nearby to an 11 000 m² warehouse, where it will add two mezzanine levels to take storage space to about 30 000 m².

MRE, an offshoot of general merchandise importer and distributor Tevo, developed and opened Lubanzi as its black economic empowerment standalone company to develop, source, manufacture and assemble renewable energy system components such as inverters, cabling and switchgear, among other items.

“Our goal is to make sure that the rooftop [solar] market in South Africa is serviced by constant stock on the ground,” says Tevo CEO Patrick Bennett.

By offering a “one-stop shop” for solar installers, he says Lubanzi and MRE are empowering installers to do jobs easier and quicker.

Lubanzi will work with MRE, together using Tevo’s established warehousing and distribution expertise, to ensure sufficient stockholding and make components more easily available.

Bennett says the all-in-one inverters made in the Lubanzi factory come complete with all the required alternating current and direct current cabling pre-installed.

“All the switchgear [is] already done. An installer literally arrives in a home, takes [the] inverter unit out of a box, with four screws installs it on a wall, and all the wiring is done . . . The installer just adds the battery, connects to [solar] panels on the roof and the job is done.

“Then the installer can do four installations in one day, where they [would have otherwise] generally take[n] one-and-a-half, to two days to do a single installation,” he says.

Bennett adds that Lubanzi is currently producing 3 kW and 5 kW integrated units – all of which are currently sold out as a result of significant uptake. “We cannot make them fast enough.”

He says “over the last seven or eight years . . . we have seen the development of solar . . . three years ago, we could not bear it any longer, [so] we decided to get involved in the solar industry. It started with [MRE] employing technical expertise – engineers who understood solar.”

Meanwhile, Longi Africa GM Ryan Wang says the company’s marketing team in South Africa has grown “sharply” over the past two years, from initially having only two sales agents, to now having ten in sales, sales support and technical support.

“In the near future, we are going to expand the team to give [local customers] better services,” he says.