South Africa Seeks Help From China to Safeguard Supply of Solar Panels
- Electricity minister to meet Chinese solar equipment makers
- State considering solar financing options for low-income homes
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
South Africa’s electricity minister intends asking the Chinese government to help ensure that solar-power installers in the African nation secure reliable access to panels as demand for alternative sources of energy grows.
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will travel to China this week to meet six of the nation’s biggest solar equipment manufacturers to help it easier to imports panels amid ongoing blackouts. South African businesses and households are increasingly opting to reduce their reliance on the grid as state utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which supplies more than 90% of the nation’s electricity, subjects the country to daily power cuts because its old and poorly maintained coal-fired plants can’t meet demand.