AfrElec: South African solar installers report recent sharp drop in demand

Solar installers in South Africa have reported a sharp decline in demand for inverters, batteries and solar panels in recent months.

The significant drop in demand for solar equipment and requests for installation quotations is attributed to lower-than-expected stages of power outages, high interest rates, rand depreciation and general affordability issues.

“From our side, we’ve seen significantly fewer enquiries. There are still enquiries, but compared to what it was, significantly fewer,” AWPower managing director Christiaan Hatting told local media platform MyBroadband.

“The only thing that logically makes sense is that load shedding is the emotional driver behind it. The lack of stage 6 load shedding just means that people are living with it.”

South Africans have been exposed to high levels of power cuts, called load shedding locally, sometimes for up to 12 hours daily for the most part of the last two years. According to Hatting, recently introduced lower levels are better tolerated. He also noted that high interest rates in the country were significantly affecting people’s cash flow.

If you would like to read more about the key events shaping the African energy sector, then please click here for NewsBase's AfrElec Monitor.