According to IRENA (March, 2017), Asia had the greatest solar uptake in 2016, bringing their total capacity from solar to 139 GW. A significant chunk of new installations occurred in China, contributing a total of 34 GW. From the previous year, other notable solar expansions took place in USA with an 11 GW increase, Japan with an 8 GW increase and India with a 4 GW increase. Europe reached a total of 104 GW from solar; most of which is due to the large uptake in the United Kingdom and Germany.
It is expected that Rooftop Solar PV systems could cost in the range of ZAR0.80 to ZAR1.20/kWh. This is influenced by the cost of the installation, the site solar irradiation as well as the cost and terms of financing.
In General, Rooftop Solar PV systems cost around 10,000 – 15,000 ZAR/kWp that will provide approximately 5kWh of energy per day – it is expected that a 2kWp system is sufficient to power a small household.
A significant portion of the cost for PV systems arises from the cost of the modules. Therefore, should the price of PV modules decrease, the total cost of your system should decrease too.
Solar PV has an important role to play towards the transition to a lower carbon intensive economy. It is likely that the impending direction for Solar PV will move towards more utility scale, off grid and rooftop installations; as well as more municipalities building on their SSEG processes and tariffs. It is also likely that we will see more emphasis on storage and back-up systems. More initiatives relating to quality assurance and skills development will also result in safer installations and advancing the skills needed in the sector.