• efficient lighting (CFL)
• solar water heating
• DSM energy efficiency and load management projects (ESCo projects)

Efficient lighting (CFLs)

It was shown during the Western Cape incident of 2006 that mass rollout of CFLs can rapidly obtain large amounts of demand savings in relatively short timeframes and at reduced cost. These initiatives were continued nationally during the 2008 financial year and are expected to continue for the next few years. During the year the largest rollouts were undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Many other areas will be targeted in the 2009 financial year.

The objective for the 2009 financial year is to reduce demand by 500MW by installing more than 19 million CFLs in houses. This will be done in three ways: regional residential mass roll-outs, retailer exchange and rollout to Eskom, corporate and government employees. Mass rollouts involve house-to-house exchanges and installation of CFLs for incandescent bulbs (over 14 million bulbs). The retailer exchange programme involves the exchange of incandescent bulbs for CFLs at exchange points in supermarkets. It is estimated that 500 000 units could be exchanged in this manner. Eskom employees will exchange another 200 000 units and industrial, commercial and government entities a further 720 000 units.

Solar water heating

The solar water heating programme offers an incentive to consumers to replace existing electrical heating geysers with solar heating geysers. The strategy is to create a sustainable solar water heating industry in South Africa and achieve a 166MW demand reduction in three years. For the 2009 financial year, the target is 16MW.

Since the launch of the Eskom solar water heating programme certain processes have been modified as we had a better understanding of the solar environment’s requirements. Eskom is working hard to streamline solar heating related industries to comply with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and other applicable regulatory and legislative requirements.

Initially the programme rolled out slowly but it is expected to improve as teething problems are dealt with and more suppliers are passed through the SABS accreditation system. The expectations and targets for the programme are high. However the industry needs time to adjust to the increased market interest which would result in a higher volume of installations.

Load reduction and load shifting devices

This mainly focuses on the use of intelligent smart meters and load limiting devices. The intention is to save an estimated 20MW in this way in the 2009 financial year. Smart meter specifications should be completed by end May 2008. A trial will be held in 2009 where a limited volume will be installed in certain affluent areas to test the meters in terms of information management, reliability and communication protocol. A mass rollout is expected in the 2010 financial year. The load limiter device is in concept phase currently and is expected to be commercialised before the end of the 2009 financial year.

Power alert

Power alert is an interactive media communication system aimed at the residential market in order to influence consumption patterns during weekday evening peak periods (18h00 to 21h00). Demand savings amounted to 452MW, which are excluded from the overall DSM target and achievements as they are considered to be unsustainable.

The benefits of using energy efficiently

Cost savings: Reduced energy usage means lower costs to consumers and optimum use of Eskom resources (coal and water). Some major investment may be needed, but many projects will rely on behavioural change as the primary input.

In the period to 2012, if energy is not removed from the system by energy efficient use, Eskom will not be able to connect customers as in the past and may have to incur further load shedding in future. It is thus imperative that we all do our part in saving energy to ensure the economy can grow effectively with a reliable source of electricity.