The dark cold years of loadshedding being "business as usual" appear to be behind us. SA’s power supply seems to be relatively stable, with fewer and shorter outages. But we’ve paid a price for it. Between 2007 and 2015, electricity tariffs have increased by around 300%. So if you were an early adopter of solar power who chose to supplement your grid supply (or replace it) with cleaner power, you’re probably still happy with that choice. Even if tariffs magically hold firm for the next decade (they won’t), there is an acknowledged need to reduce our demand from older and "dirty" energy sources. Global renewable energy generation capacity increased by 8.7% or 161GW in 2016 to 2,006GW, according to the latest statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency. The agency says Africa installed 4.1GW of new capacity in the year, double that of 2015. Solar showed strong growth, amounting to 71GW or 44% of the overall capacity. Solar also makes up around 40% of off-grid electricity...

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