KwaZulu Natal, SOUTH AFRICA

SELF manages a small but highly visible PV pilot project in the Zulu community of Maphaphethe in the Valley of a Thousand Hills in KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, and a contract with the South African Ministry of Energy in Pretoria, SELF brought the first solar home systems (SHS) to this rural Zulu community in early 1996. Working with the KwaZulu Finance Corporation of Durban, SELF provides guarantees for an experimental solar loan program so families can purchase their SHS on installment credit. The development bank collects directly from the users, who pay at the nearest branch or have their bank accounts debited monthly.

The 12,000-member community, headed by a young progressive Nkosi (chief), provides an attractive future market for a sizable program of domestic solar electrification in a region that South African utilities do not expect to reach for 5 to 10 years (if ever). Solar home systems specified by SELF cost approximately $600 and contain a 53 Wp solar module, charge regulator, 4 compact-fluorescent lighting fixtures, wiring, 98 Amp-hour deep-cycle battery, switches and mounting hardware. Loan terms are set at current development bank loan rates, with a 10% down payment and 3 years to pay the balance. So far there have been no defaults, and the user pays the full cost of the systems without subsidy.

SELF initially provided a 200Wp community solar lighting system for the local courthouse to demonstrate the viability of this non-grid electric technology.

SHS installation and maintenance is provided by local technicians trained by SELF South Africa's project manager. Most of the technicians and project "motivators," who sign up families for the program, are young Zulu women. A Women's Solar Cooperative for Maphaphethe is being organized so the women can take over the project administration themselves.

SELF South Africa is acting as the not-for-profit middleman between the distributor and the end user. It is intended that eventually the womenÍs Solar Co-op itself will become the "dealer," purchasing future systems (on both cash and credit basis) directly from PV distributors. In this way, solar home systems become more affordable; credit is provided to those who need it, and a community owns its own domestic solar power generation. The Cooperative, as its own solar dealer, would be like a municipality that buys bulk power from a utility. Communities could then purchase "electricity" directly from solar component manufacturers and their South African distributors.

SELF believes the program can be replicated widely throughout South Africa if the model proves successful. Currently, 3.7 million families in South Africa have yet to receive electric service from the grid; for at least half of them, solar PV can provide the most immediate and least-cost solution. The government of S.A. has been watching SELF's pilot project closely and is currently exploring the best means of widespread dissemination of SHS.

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A study for the U.S. government calculated that the gasoline equivalent of the energy saved over the lifetime of one 24-watt compact fluorescent bulb is sufficient to drive a Prius from New York to San Francisco.