Author: Jon Kornik

South Africa’s solar energy boom is a double-edged sword — on the one hand, it will insulate those who can afford it from load shedding and higher tariffs, and partially fill the electricity supply gap. On the other hand, it poses a real risk to the stability of the national grid. However, a recent study shows that the humble household geyser can be smartened up to mitigate those risks and open up the solar floodgates. In response to South Africa’s 15-year-long power crisis, as well as steep annual electricity tariff increases, households and businesses are installing solar systems at a…

One of the unintended consequences of load shedding is that when the power is turned back on in an area, most geysers switch back on at the same time and work hard to reheat water that had cooled, leading to sudden surges in demand. This is called ‘comeback load’, and a new study shows that this phenomenon pushes up maximum geyser energy consumption across some areas by 90%. Considering that geysers are responsible for approximately half of household electricity use, this creates havoc for local municipalities and the grid operator, and impacts consumers as well. Implications of Comeback Load Comeback…