Solar Energy
Use Home Comfort solar energy to help power your home. It’s perfect for low energy use, from your lights to your computers to your television. Solar power is renewable, clean and has no direct emissions.
Power is produced by solar panels on your roof which harness the sun’s energy, and can be used almost anywhere in South Africa.
We are fortunate to have one of the sunniest climates in the world. Most of the country is dry and temperate; ideal conditions for harnessing solar power.
The sun generates vast amounts of energy, and only the tiniest fraction of this is being used. In fact, the energy that the sun produces in one hour is enough to power the entire planet for a year!
It’s affordable, renewable, and environmentally friendly. Using solar energy makes sense.
- Independent supply – you will not be affected by the erratic national power supply, but will be self sufficient.
- An investment – installing a solar energy system adds to the value of your property and constantly saves you on running costs.
- Environmentally friendly – solar energy is clean energy. No pollution and no exploitation of limited natural resources.
- Free energy – generate free electricity from the sun.
- Effortless installation – with our national team of professionals.
- Maintenance free – after installation you simply forget about the solar system. It works for you year in and year out!
The process of solar energy generating electricity is called ‘photovoltaics’.
Home Comfort solar energy has the following features:
- 5-year guarantee – international guarantee on our solar energy products, while the expected life span is more than 20 years.
- Latest research – our solar power technology was designed and tested by one of the world’s leading research facilities.
- Most effective system – reducing the panel size on your roof.
- Quality – our solar energy products adhere to the highest quality standards including ISO 9001.
In 1954, scientists at Bell Telephone discovered that silicon (an element found in sand) created an electric charge when it was exposed to lots of sunlight. Just a few years later, silicon chips were used to help power space satellites. The silicon from just one ton of sand, used in photovoltaic cells, could produce as much solar power as burning 500,000 tons of coal.
When designing the electrical system for your house, business or lodge, we recommend that you combine the following elements:
- Solar power system for critical appliances like your computer.
- Solar geyser which will reduce your electricity demand by almost half, while it will pay for itself within 3 or 4 years from the savings on electricity.
- Power from the national grid (Eskom).
The primary component of a solar power system is the photovoltaic module. The components added to the module constitute the balance of the system. Components can be classified into four categories:
- Batteries – store electricity to provide energy on demand at night or on overcast days.
- Inverters – required to convert the DC power produced by the photovoltaic module into AC power.
- Controllers – manage the energy storage to the battery and deliver power to the load.
- Structure – required to mount or install the PV modules.
- Additional power sources – power generators and the national power grid can be connected to the system to supplement the power requirements.
- High levels of sunlight. Areas where there is a prolonged presence of clouds or mist are not suitable for PV systems. However, South Africa has one of the highest solar irradiation levels in the world.
- Direct sunlight is required for the PV panels. This means that the site should be free of shading from trees, buildings, etc.