By Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik on Ground Up
- Qandu Qandu casual settlement residents in Khayelitsha say they’ve really feel duped by a challenge that pairs a photo voltaic power firm with the Umbane challenge led by professors at UCT and Exeter University.
- The members say they can not afford the month-to-month utilization charges for solar energy along with the set up charges.
- They additionally declare they had been promised start-up funding for companies and they’re now caught with photo voltaic home equipment they purchased and can’t afford to run.
Shack dwellers in Qandu Qandu casual settlement in Khayelitsha are sad and disillusioned by an empowerment initiative, the Umbane challenge, which is led by professors on the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Exeter.
In 2020, the Umbane challenge, gained the distinguished R10-million Newton Chair Prize for its preliminary work pairing photo voltaic mini-grids with pay-as-you-go vouchers. Its subsequent section was to assist ladies use photo voltaic refrigeration to run small residence companies, and to show them enterprise abilities.
But the shack dweller members in Umbane say they had been misled by the personal photo voltaic power firm, Zonke Energy, which offers the photo voltaic grids for the challenge. They believed solar energy can be free after the set up prices. The firm flatly denies promising this.
Qandu Qandu, established in 2018 has about 5 000 shacks at this time, and no formal electrical energy. Kyle Cookson, of Eskom, mentioned it is because the vast majority of the settlement is on wetlands and subsequently can’t be electrified.
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Zonke Energy in Khayelitsha
A pattern group of 140 shacks had been related to Zonke Energy’s mini-solar towers in mid-2020. Each mini-grid tower is related to about ten shacks.
Households paid a R400 set up payment. But what they’d not anticipated had been the excessive operating prices. To have photo voltaic lights of their houses, folks pay R150 a month. To run a tv, it’s R250 per thirty days. For every day packages, folks pay R5 for lights and telephone charging, R8 to incorporate a TV.
The 31 ladies who signed up for the Umbane challenge had to purchase solar-compatible fridges for R3 500, and pay R480 a month to run it. (Depending on the mannequin, a home fridge on common makes use of 1 to 2KwH per day, and in Cape Town, and on a pay as you go metre, it should value R80 to R160 per thirty days to run.)
Zoliswa Mtshali and different residents thought that as a result of photo voltaic depends on the solar, it might be free. “To our surprise, we were told to buy prepaid coupons in order to have power,” she mentioned.
Mtshali mentioned her energy is now off as a result of she has not been capable of pay her R480 fridge invoice. “I’m now stuck with a fridge that only uses solar energy,” she mentioned.
The ladies additionally believed they’d get begin up funding for his or her solar-powered refrigeration companies.
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“We were promised funds, and the company advised us to buy fridges from them that use solar energy. After that, we attended business skills classes with certificates after the training,”
mentioned Mtshali.
They acquired their certificates in April 2022. The certificates of participation within the “Business Bootcamp Sessions” has the University of Exeter, UCT and Zonke emblazoned on it.
Community chief Pamela Memani confirmed Mtshali’s assertion in regards to the funding. She mentioned they submitted their enterprise plans to Umbane and understood that funding would fluctuate relying on the plan and what they supposed to promote.
“I attended their business training … We have certificates. We are waiting for them to give us the money they promised us, so we can start our business,”
she mentioned.
But Siseko Siwali of Umbane denies that any funding guarantees had been made.
“We introduced the fridge package from Zonke Energy. The business skills were a bonus to make sure that they continue their business with proper skills.”
“Unfortunately for some, their businesses are not doing well,”
mentioned Siwali.
What does the Solar firm need to say for itself?
Meanwhile, Zonke Energy technical director Alex Densmore, additionally mentioned, “As far as I am aware, none of the participants were promised funds for starting a business.”
He mentioned the corporate affords “clean and affordable energy to off-grid informal settlements”.
Densmore mentioned in communities the place Eskom (grid) energy isn’t an possibility folks use paraffin and unlawful connections, that are additionally costly and intensely harmful. “Therefore, our service is more appropriately compared to their existing, actual options rather than the grid, which they cannot access. On this basis we are very affordable and competitive.”
“Zonke Energy is a completely unsubsidised, private entity … Eskom’s power is highly subsidised and their infrastructure costs have been amortised over decades. Additionally, our infrastructure is off-grid and therefore requires large batteries to cover nights and bad weather periods, which can add to the cost.”
“Our offering is completely pay-as-you-go. Clients are not required to pay for any length of time. There are no long-term contracts,”
he mentioned.
Professor Federico Caprotti from the University of Exeter, who’s a pacesetter of the Umbane challenge within the partnership with Dr Jiska de Groot, an professional in clear and sustainable power at UCT, mentioned the challenge was there to help or allow folks in casual settlements to run their companies.
He mentioned they acquired funding for the challenge, but it surely was not designed to be free.
“With funding you only get a certain amount. Once the money is finished, it’s finished. Our plan is to continue the project, giving an energy solution to informal settlements that do not have electricity,”
he mentioned.
He mentioned it was to allow folks residing in casual settlements to start out or proceed with their companies.
“We choose women because it is they who run these small businesses and who are also risking their lives using paraffin and candles,” he mentioned
He mentioned Zonke Energy put in the solar energy and bought the fridges.
This article was first printed on Ground Up
