Drivers, barriers and a method for evaluating the feasibility of residential rooftop solar PV in Durban (Part 1)

Historically, Eskom South Africa produced the cheapest electricity in the world, but this position has changed over the last decade due to several factors, such as constraints in building new generation plants within the country. This has led to under frequency load shedding and the doubling of electricity prices in the country. With the ongoing electricity price increases, connection of small scale embedded/distributed generation on the local electricity distribution networks is becoming an increasingly attractive prospect in South Africa. However, customers need to accurately calculate the payback period of their rooftop solar PV prior to installing these systems. This paper discusses a method for evaluating the potential annual output of a rooftop solar PV system and provides a derivation for evaluating the accurate payback period of a rooftop PV system. EThekwini Municipality network was utilized as a case study example.