The South African Utility, Eskom has announced a plan to install 1 million solar water heaters by 2015 in a move that promises to be a major green initiative for the rainbow nation. Water heating accounts for 30 percent to 50 percent of the electricity demand from the household market and the use of solar heaters makes sense in this sunshine abundant nation.
Eskom has already been providing free electricity to the poorer homes for many years. However, this free electricity use has been limited to use for lighting. These families, therefore, use paraffin heaters that cause air pollution and are serious fire hazards. Eskom will offer free 110 litre capacity solar water heaters to these households .
Even for families that do not qualify for free electricity, Eskom offers rebates of up to 120% of the heater cost. The user has to register for this rebate and install an Eskom approved make of water heater. Eskom has qualified some 80 South African manufacturers after tests at its labs for efficiency, quality and safety of these products.
The solar water heater ( see picture above ) consists of a water tank and a set of evacuated glass tubes that are solar collectors. When the water in the glass tubes gets heated due to solar heat , it rises into the tank and cooler water from the tank flows into the tubes to replace the warm water. This circulation causes the tank to fill with hot water. On clear sunny days , this water temperature can reach 55 degrees Celsius or higher. With an average energy consumption of 1KW for a water heater of this size, the one million water heaters projects can have a huge impact on the growth of electricity demand in South Africa.
This should help offset some of the concerns that surround the construction of huge coal burning power plants to meet this nation’s burgeoning energy needs. South Africa has also taken up other green energy projects including the world’s largest solar power project being built in phases up to a capacity of 5GW . The first 1GW is expected to feed into the grid in 2012.
Via: TreeHugger
