The Technical Firefly

ABOUT US

Our passion and drive comes from years of experience in the energy efficient running of TELCO sites in Africa, where the extreme carbon footprint of using unreliable power and expensive diesel generators as the norm of life.

Having seen the far-reaching impact on energy deprived communities when there are other simple sustainable solutions to bring basic energy to power, especially much needed communication to rural families and noting the impact that the rolling power cuts are having on the normal lives of South Africans, therefore we had no choice but to act.

We are an experienced team known as The Technical Firefly. We deliver well planned, cost effective service and wherever possible, a smaller Carbon Footprint to our clients utilising the same principles that powered some of the most successful Deep Rural Solar solutions to Telco Projects on the African continent.

HYBRID CLEAN ENERGY EXPLAINED

Hybrid power, is taking different combinations of technology to generate or produce power.

Generally, this will be a combination of clean energy (Solar, Wind, Hydro) in combination with readily available grid power or carbon heavy diesel generators, i.e. using as a primary power source photovoltaics (PV Solar) and Diesel Generators as a secondary source to Off-Grid applications.

The photovoltaics (PV Solar) source would be used as far as possible, to both carry a rural factory or a farmhouse’s daily running load, as well as recharging a storage system (Fuel Cell, Batteries, etc). The diesel generator would only be activated in times where sufficient energy cannot be produced either by Solar System or Energy Storage to carry the farmhouse or factory load.

The design of clean energy solutions generally follow the extreme in the peak of winter when cloudy weather persists which in turn causes low generation for Solar power.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Bloomberg published in the Financial Times on the 6th of March 2020 that Eskom warns of regular blackouts from power cuts of 8 000 megawatts by mid-2021 if maintenance is delayed any further. A move that would cripple the economy with planned power outages for the next 18 to 24 months would be unavoidable should Eskom continue with the deferred maintenance.

If nothing is done, Stage 8 will be a regular occurrence by June 2021, referring to an outage of 8 000 megawatts. Outages at the moment range between stages 1 and 4, or 1 000 to 4 000 megawatts depending on the time of year.

Stage 1:
1 000MW cut runs either 3 times over a 4-day period for 2 hours at a time, or 3 times over an 8-day period for 4 hours at a time.

Stage 2:
2 000MW will double the frequency of Stage 1. The cut runs either 6 times over a 4-day period for 2 hours at a time, or 6 times over an 8-day period for 4 hours at a time.

Stage 3:
3 000MW will increase the frequency of Stage 2 by 50%. The cut runs either 9 times over a 4-day period for 2 hours at a time, or 9 times over an 8-day period for 4 hours at a time.

Stage 4:
4 000MW will double the frequency of Stage 2. The cut runs either 12 times over a 4-day period for 2 hours at a time, or 12 times over an 8-day period for 4 hours at a time.

The mitigation effect of Eskom’s power cuts by implementing a number of measures including less power cuts during peak periods and reducing the frequency with which it occurs, unfolds the full potential of photovoltaics (PV Solar) solutions to carry the daily running load, as well as recharging a storage system.

A combination of hybrid power, a primary power source of a scalable storage system (Batteries) and photovoltaics (PV Solar), designed in such a manner to combat various stages of Eskom blackouts including their off-peak mitigation plan, will be the prospect of the future!