Industry organisation the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has made a presentation to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy in which it called for solar investment incentives that offer tax benefits and grants for installations, specifically targeting middle-income households.

“We believe a national small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) framework will help standardise system registration and compliance across municipalities,” said SAPVIA CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu.

A national registration portal could help streamline this process, the industry organisation said.

“A national solar PV registration online portal and database would streamline and enable registration of all solar PV systems, especially in municipalities lacking capacity to develop internal systems. A similar project in India has shown what could be achieved through such an online portal,” Melamu elaborated.

The industry body also raised concerns about low compliance and registration rates, as many systems connected to distribution networks remain unregistered, with non-compliance prevalent in the residential market.

It also highlighted inconsistent installation, quality with a large variation in system installation quality and electrical safety across installation industry and municipalities during the presentation.

“We support and welcome an update to the National Installation Standard SANS 10142-1. The South African Bureau of Standards is aiming for an updated version by the end of 2024, which would clarify the requirements for grid-connected solar PV and battery energy storage systems, and improve compliance,” said Melamu.

Further, a slowdown in solar PV installations has been recorded in the residential space since the suspension of loadshedding, with an estimated 60% to 80% reduction in project volumes in the residential market segment from 2023 to 2024.

This slowdown can be attributed to the reduced demand following the suspension of loadshedding, noted Melamu.

Meanwhile, SAPVIA said it was not consulted before the introduction of the 10% import duty and rebate in July 2024, and said the sector was not prepared.

“It appears that International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) was equally unprepared because, five months since the introduction, there are still no clear guidelines for the rebate permits process. The rebate permits are issued per shipment, which is not ideal and causes some uncertainty amongst members and delays in project execution,” said Melamu.

The organisation had had several positive engagements with Itac since the introduction of the rebate including online meetings and information-sharing sessions. Itac had committed to issuing import permits per consignment until the end of January 2025 until a reliable process had been finalised, she said.

“The current pipeline of projects far outstrips the current local assembly capacity, which is estimated at less than 15%,” Melamu emphasised.

SAPVIA acknowledges the government’s desire to protect solar PV manufacturing capability and to expand it in the medium- to long-term in line with the ideals of the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan.

“This, however, should be focused on areas of the value chain where South Africa already has capabilities and capacity as the establishment, investment, and construction of factories has long lead times,” she averred.

“Solar PV has significant potential to solve South Africa’s energy trilemma, provided regulatory and policy barriers are addressed.

“Solar PV can also supply local manufacturers across the manufacturing economy with cheap, clean and reliable energy that keeps them globally competitive while also protecting local manufacturing jobs amidst the introduction of global carbon border tax mechanisms.”

SAPVIA is closely monitoring solar PV market stakeholders' response to the import duty and rebate, said Melamu.