The business case for solar PV in South Africa

This 2020 industry brief by GreenCape outlines the financial and regulatory case for solar PV adoption by businesses in South Africa, highlighting cost savings, payback periods, and regional feed-in tariff availability.

• Solar PV installations can provide South African businesses with electricity cost savings of approximately 15%, with systems typically paying for themselves within 3 to 12 years. Given a system lifespan of about 21 years, this can result in nearly 15 years of free energy.
• The South African solar PV market grew significantly in 2019, with total installed capacity estimated between 850 MWp and 1 GW, including 250 MWp to 400 MWp of rooftop installations.
• Financial viability is heavily influenced by economies of scale; larger systems have lower capital costs and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) tariffs. Systems under 100 kWp cost approximately R15k per kWp, while those over 500 kWp cost less than R10k per kWp.
• PPA tariffs reached price parity with average Eskom tariffs in 2019 and are projected to continue decreasing. For a 250kWp system, GreenCape modelling indicates an approximate payback period of five years.
• The Western Cape Province is a leader in grid-connected solar PV in South Africa, with 23 municipalities allowing Small Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) and 18 offering feed-in tariffs. Approximately 45 local municipalities outside the Western Cape also have relevant regulations and tariffs.

APA

Strydom, J. (2020). The business case for solar PV in South Africa. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/assets/SOLAR_PV_INDUSTRY_BRIEF_web.pdf

Chicago

Strydom, Johan. The business case for solar PV in South Africa. GreenCape, 2020. https://greencape.co.za/assets/SOLAR_PV_INDUSTRY_BRIEF_web.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Strydom |first1=Johan |title=The business case for solar PV in South Africa |publisher=GreenCape |date=2020 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/SOLAR_PV_INDUSTRY_BRIEF_web.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{strydom2020business, author = {Strydom, Johan}, title = {{The business case for solar PV in South Africa}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2020}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/SOLAR_PV_INDUSTRY_BRIEF_web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }