The socio-economic impacts of solar water heaters compared across two communities: A case study of Cato Manor

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109525Get rights and content

Highlights

  • An energy profile of the low-income community was attained to highlight the household’s energy behaviour.

  • Solar water heaters positively impacted the community by providing monetary savings that could be used towards livelihood.

  • Solar water heaters drawbacks: ineffectively heating water in winter, leaking water and no maintenance being conducted.

  • Males were associated with the use of energy sources that appear lower down on the energy ladder.

  • Both communities were characterised as being energy-poor according to the Department of Energy.

Abstract

There has been a global increase in greenhouse gases due to anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and urbanisation. In South Africa, the main source of greenhouse gases is the burning of coal for electricity generation. The South African government has implemented a solar water heater initiative into the Reconstruction and Development Programme, a programme established by the African National Congress government to construct low cost housing for previously disadvantaged citizens. These Reconstruction and Development Programme houses have been retrofitted with solar water heaters as part of an energy-saving initiative which reduces dependency on the grid and provides additional socio-economic benefits to improve the lives of its users. This study examined the socio-economic impacts associated with the use of solar water heaters in low-income households as well as their attitudes and perceptions towards using solar water heaters. The primary data was collected using questionnaires which yielded qualitative and quantitative data. The study area consisted of two low-income communities in South Africa. A holistic understanding of energy use and its impacts on households was gained. The study found that the solar water heaters had a variety of socio-economic impacts such as providing additional monetary savings that could be used towards livelihood strategies and benefits allowing households to spend more time on productive activities. In order to ascertain the community's perception and attitudes towards the technology, statistical analyses were performed. An overall positive perceived performance of the solar water heaters was found, however residences did experience an abundance of negatives.

Introduction

There has been a global increase in greenhouse gases due to a variety of anthropogenic activities having devastating environmental impacts [1]. A considerable shift in the world's approach toward greener energies has emerged and almost 20% of global energy supply is now renewable [2]. The year 2017 saw the largest growth in renewable power capacity for the third year in a row, with developing countries accounting for the majority of this uptake at 63% [3]. However, this is based primarily on China's investments, 45%, in renewable energy capacity. In the current context of the African continent, access to electricity is reserved for the minority population as 57% of sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity [4]. This figure may paint a dismal picture for Africa but significant progress has been made over the last few decades; electrification in sub-Saharan Africa has nearly tripled since 2012 relative to 2002 [5].

Sub-Saharan Africa has 14% of the world's population yet only accounts for 4.5% of the global primary energy demand [6]. The primary energy demand in Africa is broken up into the following proportions: oil 23%, coal 14%, gas 14%, bioenergy 48% and other (nuclear, hydro, renewable) 1% [7]. Africa's access to electricity has been challenging, however there are efforts being made such as the “New Deal for Energy in Africa” which is aimed at increasing energy access and reducing energy poverty by 2025 [5]. Furthermore, 2017 saw more roll outs in renewable energy with significant developments in leading countries such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Algeria, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya, DRC, Morocco [5]. In keeping with the renewable energy roll out, the “Africa Renewable Energy Initiative” has been launched at the Paris COP21 [5]. This initiative aims to create an additional 10 GW of additional renewable energy generation capacity by 2020, increasing to at least 300 GW by 2030 [5]. The reason for this rapid development in renewable energy capacity is to make the African energy system more resilient in handling future risks brought about by La Niña which will bring extreme weather patterns in mostly Eastern, Western and Southern Africa as well as droughts brought about by El Niño which will affect most of the continent's agricultural production and food security [5]. Africa is also estimated to reach a population 1.9 billion people by 2030 and will need an additional 250 GW of capacity, costing approximately 20 billion dollars [8].

In 2017, Sierra Leone built their first bioenergy plant which produces 32MW [3]. Hydropower progressed in 2017 with Angola commissioning the Lauca project and turned on two of its turbines with the rest being expected to be commissioned in 2018, totalling 2.1 GW of power [3]. Cote d’Ivoire is looking to improve their electrification by commissioning a 275 MW hydropower project in 2017 [3]. Sudan has inaugurated a 320 MW hydropower dam in 2017 increasing its hydroelectric power capacity by 13% [3]. Most recently, Ethiopia have constructed The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which has 60 000 million cubic meter (MCM) and will be able to produce a maximum of 6000 MW [9].

Jebaselvi and Paramasivam (2013) [10] stated that, according to current trends, renewable energy such as wind and solar are two sources of energy that will be used more in the future. Solar energy in Africa is rapidly growing with falling costs in solar technologies, new business models and global quality certification enabling the emergence of solar projects of all sizes [3]. The use of PV systems in Africa is an effective way of diversifying or expanding the energy mix, as well as increasing access to energy through off grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Globally centralised large-scale projects make up a majority share of capacity added each year (77% in 2017). This is mainly driven by the use of tenders and by the availability of low-cost capital [3]. In East and West Africa, solar PV systems are used by energy service companies to provide decentralised off-grid energy to residences using a solar PV pay-as-you-go (PAYG) business model [3]. In 2017, these companies raised approximately USD 260 million in capital and provided renewable energy to more than 700 000 customers through contract agreements based on mobile payment systems [3].

In South Africa (SA), the Department of Energy is working on the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) to rapidly implement renewable energy technologies [11]. The first phase was to commission 3725 MW of renewable energy by the end of 2018. The next phase calls for 8500 MW of renewable energy before 2025 [12]. Currently, there are 1978 MW of wind energy, 1474 of solar PV energy, 300 MW of concentrating solar power and 22 MW of hydro, biomass and landfill energy from power plants have been procured from independent power producers [12]. An advantage of the REIPPPP programme is that it is encourages the renewable market sector to grow and develop whilst reducing the electrical energy stress on the South African grid [13]. Thus, the REIPPPP holistically contributes towards socio-economic and environmentally sustainable growth [13]. The REIPPPP has fast-tracked South Africa towards becoming one of the world's largest centres for renewable energy developments [8]. South Africa has over 3900 MW of renewable energy projects under construction, estimated to be worth 14 billion USD [8].

South Africa has experienced a continued energy crisis over the past years caused by under investments in the electricity sector [8]. To find a solution the government created an “Energy War Room” to rapidly develop and implement a five-point energy plan: (i) maintaining the country's state-owned electricity company, Eskom, with a projected financial bailout of US$1.9 billion for FY2015/16; (ii) introducing new generation capacity through coal; (iii) partnering with the private sector into co-generation contracts; (iv) introducing gas-to-power technologies; and, (v) accelerating the demand side management [8]. The electricity supply industry in South Africa consists of a monopoly held by the parastatal, Eskom. Eskom own and operate the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in South Africa. Since 1994, when South Africa had its first democratic election, the electrification of many previously disadvantaged communities resulted in the electrical connectivity more than doubling in the period 1994–2012 [14].

In 2016, South Africa revealed low levels of economic growth which were attributed to poor political decisions and corruption in government [5]. Poor economic growth meant demand for electricity did not increase, thus stabilising the country's energy supply [5]. According to Pollet (2015) [5], South Africa is dependent on coal for 85% of electricity production making SA one of the most dependent countries on coal. South Africa has 4% of the global coal resources and 95% of all coal in Africa [15]. This dependency crippled the country when load shedding was introduced by Eskom. The lack of energy has been one of the main barriers to economic growth.

This demand for electricity on the national grid lead to the introduction of load shedding where, according to the stage of load shedding, the load on the national grid had to be reduced, usually between 1 and 4 GW depending on the grid stress [8]. This cost the country an estimated 1.6–6.6 million dollars per month, depending on the load shedding stage [8]. The need for individual households to reduce their consumption was evident during times of load shedding, as it exhibited Eskom's inability to cope with the country's energy demands [16]. As of 2017, 84.4% of households in South Africa are electrified. The demand for electricity in South Africa will still grow and is predicted to be 454 Terawatt-hour (TWh) by the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity document by the Department of Energy [8]. Achieving this target will be no small feat and the infrastructure that will need to be constructed is estimated to be 30 billion USD, including the two new coal-fired power stations; Medupi in Limpopo and Kusile in Mpumalanga [12]. The problem that arises with this plan is that Eskom are largely reliant on coal which contributes 45% of the country's carbon emissions. Although coal is cheap and abundantly available, it is not sustainable [8,17]. As of March 2018, Eskom have 30 power stations with a capacity of 45 561 MW (MW) (Eskom, 2018). This total capacity is broken up as follows; 37 868 MW is coal-fired stations, 1860 MW is nuclear power, 2724 MW is pumped storage, 600 MW is hydro stations, 2409 MW of gas-fired stations and 100 MW is from a wind farm (Eskom, 2018). Eskom (2018) have set targets to achieve by 2023, including an additional 17 284 MW of capacity and 9756 km of high-voltage transmission lines.

South Africa is one of the African countries that produces the most electricity and due to the country's rapid development rate, it would need to increase its electricity producing potential [18]. Using coal as it is abundant and an inexpensive resource, South Africa has managed to supply electricity at a rate that is regarded as one of the cheapest in the world [19]. This presents a pleasant image of receiving cheap electricity from an abundant resource that is said to last a 100 years at the current rate of consumption [20]. In the short term, coal may seem to be the answer to South Africa's energy crisis, however the long-term impacts will be devastating to the environment and to people's quality of life [20,21]. Eskom is the largest consumer of coal and emits 225 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, which will have immense impacts on global warming [20].

The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Methods states that South Africa will continue to develop these petroleum-based resources until at least 2020 [8]. Thereafter, there are a multitude of policies put in place to drive renewable energy. A short term goal announced by the African National Congress (ANC) is to commission up to 20 000 MW of renewable energy, decreasing dependence on coal and meeting carbon emission targets set at COP17 [8].

The South African government has proactively launched initiatives to reduce residential energy demand but also improve their socio-economic standing. One such initiative is the retro-fitting of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses with solar water heaters (SWHs) at no charge [22]. The RDP is a policy framework that holistically seeks to build a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist future by developing integrated and coherent socio-economic policies and implementing such policies to allow for better service delivery and better infrastructure (physical and social) of the previously disadvantaged. Thereby extinguishing inequality across all people [[23], [24], [25]]. SWHs were chosen to be installed in these low-income RDP houses for multiple reasons; to reduce dependency on the national grid, mitigate climate change, and most importantly to aid poverty alleviation of vulnerable communities [26]. This initiative is in line with the government's long-term mitigation strategies for climate change to meet the renewable energy target of 10 000 GWh (Gigawatt hour) [27]. The residential sector uses 18% of final energy demand. If the entire residential sector were to have SWHs, this would potentially reduce overall energy demand by 4.5% of 9000 Gigawatts hour per annum [27].

The South Africa National Energy Development Institute was established in 2008 under the Energy Act. The Energy Institute guides public interest in energy research. The Act also allowed for a focus towards energy efficiency by supporting cleaner production, investment in manufacturing expansion, and energy saving [28].

A method of making the country more energy efficient was cited in 2009 when the Minister of Energy set a goal to install one million solar water heaters by 2015, as part of the National Solar Water Heating Framework [26,29,30]. In 2014, the Department of Energy announced they had only managed to install 395 088 systems and failed to achieve the one million SWH target [30]. There were over 100 000 SWH units installed in RDP houses between 2008 and 2012 across South Africa [30,31]. The reason for more South Africans not having SWHs, despite being one of the countries in the world that are most suited for solar heating, is the high capital cost and the low cost of electricity [32].

The latest version of the South African Integrated resource plan, a document that is designed as a road map which dictates what energy resources the South African government will develop, stated that as the electricity prices increase and technological advancements improve energy efficiency, so does the awareness among consumers to be more energy efficient. The report also highlighted that new developments are installing solar water heaters instead of electric geysers, in accordance with municipal by-laws. These developments impact on overall electricity demand and must be considered when projecting future demand and supply of electricity [33].

The eThekwini municipality (study area) has enacted a Solar City Framework to pilot a “Solar City” concept which will promote the uptake of solar technologies. The project, which began in 2013, serves to better co-ordinate interventions that promote the uptake of decentralised solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. The primary outputs of the programme are: organising and developing a strategy for the Solar City Durban; making solar affordable for residents and businesses, updating and enforcing local rules and regulations; improving local grid policies and processes; educating and empowering potential customers; and leading by example with installations on Government properties. Additionally, the project will also develop a solar map and information portal. The portal aims to make individual property owners aware about PV technology, as well as providing them with a financial modelling tool that incorporates solar radiation data of any area within the eThekwini municipality [34].

The aim of this research was to examine the socio-economic impacts associated with the use of SWHs in low income households, as well as their attitudes and perception of using SWHs. This objective was achieved by determining the socio-economic characteristics, personal experiences and problems encountered by residents; by identifying the attitudes and perceptions of using SWHs by low income households; and by assessing the impact of SWHs on residents’ quality of life since installation.

The community of Cato Manor, located in Durban, KwaZulu Natal (KZN), was selected as the study area for this project. Within Cato Manor, there were two targeted communities, namely Wiggins and uMkumbaan. This research assesses the performance of SWHs in terms of their socio-economic impacts on the people that use it within the two communities. Fifty questionnaires were used to assess the residences in uMkumbaan and 102 questionnaires were used to assess the residences in Wiggins.

Section snippets

History of Cato Manor (CM)

During the 1930s, the Durban municipality was under the control of the apartheid government and much of Cato Manor was inhabited by Indians and Africans under the Group Areas Act that applied racial residential segregation which is still evident today. These areas were often associated with poor infrastructure as government resources were still under the control of the apartheid government [35].

In the late 1980s, there was an increase in informal settlements which was attributed to a number of

Study area: Cato Manor (CM)

South Africa (SA) has nine provinces and KZN, the province in which this study takes place, is located on the sub-tropical eastern seaboard of SA alongside the warm Indian Ocean [38]. According to the latest statistics from Statistics South Africa (2018) [39], KZN is the second most populated province with 11 384 722 people, and covers approximately 93 307 km2 of land in the country [40]. The municipal district of eThekwini lies within KZN (Fig. 1) and is home to a population of 370 2231 with

Sustainable livelihoods approach

The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) is an analytical tool that can be applied to improve the understanding of the livelihoods of poor communities [51]. The SLA is inherently associated with poverty reduction measures and environmental management [51,52]. The SLA attempts to understand how skills, social networks, and access to physical and financial assets can impact livelihood outcomes [53]. Thus, the SLA is based on the premise that people require a range of assets to achieve their

Results and discussion

The collected data has been analysed and presented according to the themes of the questionnaire; socio-economic and demographic profile of households; energy profile of households; and SWH performance, experiences and attitudes.

Conclusions

The need for renewable energy is currently highlighted with global climate change. In order to mitigate climate change, energy sources used in the future need to take environmental impacts into account. South Africa may have a slow uptake in renewable energy which will possibly encourage demand side energy management, such as installing SWHs. This study set out to examine the socio-economic impacts associated with the use of SWHs in low income households, as well as, their attitudes and

Declaration of competing interest

None.

Acknowledgements

My research process would not have been a success without the contribution from the following people:

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