WITH commercial photovoltaic (PV) installations in South Africa booming, it appears that many more companies and individuals are looking at this option from a long-term perspective, knowing that it makes economic sense over time to supplement their electricity requirements through self-generation.
Against this background, Alexander and Poole (A and P), an electrical equipment supplier to the local and pan-African industry for over 40 years, has always focused on supplying connector solutions exclusively from Anderson Power Products (APP). A and P is the sole distributor for the southern African region of APP electrical connector solutions. The connectors are used in several industries, including solar power.
Growing opportunities in the local solar market
A and P managing director, Andrew Poole, clarifies: “The future of South Africa’s solar power market has been looking brighter in recent years. The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) reports that the local PV market has ambitious targets to increase capacity installed from PV operations from 3% to 11% of total electricity supply by 2030. This represents significant opportunities for investors, manufacturers and operators.
“In addition to the development of large-scale solar farms, there has been a satisfying increase recently in the number of commercial rooftop PV projects locally. We are seeing solar panels being installed in places like shopping malls, offices, office parks and car parks, as well as for domestic use,” says Poole.
Statistics have shown that most areas in South Africa average more than 2 500 hours of sunshine per year, while in contrast, the UK as a whole averages 1 493 hours of sun a year.
A and P national sales manager, Juanita Rodrigues, adds: “This shows quite clearly that South Africa’s solar energy market offers significant opportunity for development and growth. Our weather, hours of sunshine and vast tracts of open land all lend themselves to generating significant renewable energy via solar farms,” she says.
“It is indeed encouraging to see an ongoing additional rise in commercial PV rooftop projects, as more companies and individuals are exploring the possibilities of electricity self-generation.”
Getting off the grid
Poole notes: “In addition, the ongoing vulnerability of the national energy utility, and the loadshedding that is required to keep the national grid in operation, only emphasises the importance of cultivating a mix of energy sources to make energy more available – and to offer back-up power. When asking yourself: ‘Do I want to get off the grid?’, it is important to ensure that you are using the best possible technology options. In this regard, another question to ask yourself is: ‘Have I got the best accessories to complete my solar set-up?’”
Rodrigues explains that APP electrical connectors are used within the solar arena for applications such as power optimisers, battery packs, storage interfaces, single phase inverters, loads, energy meters, monitoring platforms, and moving transmission from DC to AC power.
Quality, reliability and performance
“The most widely-used product in the solar arena is the standard 50 Amp two pole connector, but APP offers a range of other connectors for this market as well. The APP SPEC Pak 5 Position Mid-power solar product is an ideal interconnect solution – designed for use in industrial applications with inverters, junction boxes or metered connections.”
Features and benefits of the Spec Pak family include the following:
- Ideal for off-grid mobile signage, lighting, fuel cell, micro-inverters and central inverters, solar, wind power, chargers, motors, machine tools, mobile climate control and industrial automation applications;
- Environmentally-sealed IP68;
- Meets weather ability rating of F1 under UL746;
- Meets UL 94 VO flammability rating;
- Customer configurable; and
- Hundreds of power and mixed power and signal combinations.
“The beauty of the APP products that we supply at Alexander and Poole, is that we can offer superior alternative options to the standard MC4 connectors – which we stock specifically for the solar market,” adds Rodrigues.
“APP solutions achieve the highest levels of durability, quality and reliability, yet are also cost-competitive. As South African businesses and individuals consider – and embrace – the possibilities of PV solar power, Alexander and Poole will continue to work closely with APP to identify future design opportunities where quality, reliability, and performance is at the very forefront,” she concludes.
