Pitiful rooftop solar uptake in sunny South Africa : a policy, funding and service delivery perspective

dc.contributor.authorMcKay, Tracey
dc.contributor.authorHendricks, Donavan
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-07T09:05:10Z
dc.date.available2023-07-07T09:05:10Z
dc.date.issued2022-09-20
dc.descriptionDATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because ethics application did not include the sharing of raw data. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to mckaytjm@unisa.ac.za.en_US
dc.description.abstractDespite rolling blackouts, high electricity prices, a favorable climate and the size of the South African economy, rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar products have low levels of middle-income residential market penetration. This study sought to establish the reasons for this. It was found, firstly, that households opt rather for demand side management (DSM) tools such as energy-e cient lamps or inverters. Secondly, they switch to gas (at least for cooking) or a generator rather than solar. This is because rooftop PV is expensive, in part due to costly batteries and inverters, but also as support measures such as feed-in tari funding, tax rebates and subsidies are non-existent. In addition, South African banks are reluctant to finance rooftop PV, as return on investment (ROI) is extremely long term, and there are few, if any, bank-accredited PV suppliers. There is also no political pressure on banks to provide attractive PV financing. Furthermore, middle-income consumers struggle to understand PV technology and do not trust the suppliers thereof. For instance, rooftop PV companies seldom market themselves or their products adequately, and most do not sell PV with a maintenance service plan or offer credit. It is recommended that rooftop PV companies work with banks offer innovative, cost-effective modular PV packages, and build their brand to create a relationship of trust with the community to increase sales.en_US
dc.description.departmentGordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)en_US
dc.description.librarianam2023en_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-citiesen_US
dc.identifier.citationMcKay, T. & Hendricks, D. (2022) Pitiful rooftop solar uptake in sunny South Africa: A policy, funding and service delivery perspective. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities4:969040. DOI: 10.3389/frsc.2022.969040.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2624-9634 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3389/frsc.2022.969040
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/91301
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherFrontiers Mediaen_US
dc.rights© 2022 McKay and Hendricks. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).en_US
dc.subjectSolar energyen_US
dc.subjectPhotovoltaicen_US
dc.subjectFinanceen_US
dc.subjectPolicyen_US
dc.subjectEntrepreneurshipen_US
dc.subjectSDG-11: Sustainable cities and communitiesen_US
dc.subjectSDG-07: Affordable and clean energyen_US
dc.titlePitiful rooftop solar uptake in sunny South Africa : a policy, funding and service delivery perspectiveen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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