Renewable energy manufacturing company Ener-G-Africa (EGA) has launched a newly commissioned solar assembly plant. The plant will produce various small-scale solar panels for the local and African export markets.
Located in Paarl in the Western Cape, the plant will assemble 275W and 550W panels, which offer higher capacity on smaller roof areas.
EGA invested R135m in the new plant, the company said.
The plant will also be used to produce the company’s existing range of 150W, 250W and 360W panels.
EGA’s chief business development officer, Dave Lello, said one 275W panel could replace two 150W panels at a lower cost while requiring less space.
“Likewise, two of our 275W panels will generate better performance than three of the 150W panels currently on the market, reducing the number of panels needed,” Lello said.
The German-technology EGA panels will all be manufactured in SA under internationally recognised certification and according to ISO and IEC standards.
“Our mission is to deliver the latest in renewable energy technology at an affordable price, ensuring that even households with limited access to grid services can benefit from clean, sustainable energy,” said EGA CEO Andre Moolman.
SA imported more than R28bn of solar panels, lithium batteries and converters in 2022, according to information from the department of trade, industry & competition. Imports more than doubled in 2023 to about R70bn because of the solar boom the country saw when load-shedding was an almost daily occurrence. Roughly 2,600MW of rooftop solar was installed in 2023, almost half of the total installed capacity of about 5,790MW. Most solar panel imports were either modules or whole panels that had already been assembled.
In 2023 the government introduced the SA Renewable Energy Masterplan, which aims to build local value chains for renewable energy and battery storage. SA introduced a 10% import tariff on solar panels earlier in 2024 with the hope that this would help boost domestic production.
Correction: August 30 2024
EGA invested R135m in the new plant, not R153m.
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