Discovery Green has warned South Africans against overinvesting in solar, saying that doing so could increase their total energy costs by more than 50% in the long run.
It revealed that businesses are procuring too much solar, growing the solar industry at an alarming rate, which could increase their total energy costs by more than 50% in the long run. “It also explains why businesses shouldn’t assume they can solve for the remainder of their renewable energy needs in the future – it is more complicated than that,” Nepgen said.
As a result, businesses tend to settle for a low level of renewable energy coverage after procuring solar, but this has a cost, too. Many businesses base their decision-making on historical averages without accounting for the risk of extreme events that could impact generation or consumption.