THE EFFECT OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMESTIC SOLAR WATER HEATING INDUSTRY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

摘要

In spite of having far better winter solar radiation than most of the world, the shipments of glazed Solar Water Heaters (SWHs) decreased to 46,8% of the 1983 values. South Africa tolerates standard electrical storage water heaters with standing losses in excess of 25% per year, while the government-owned utility delivers of the world's cheapest electricity, expecting to run out of peak capacity by 2007. About 90% of the electricity is coal based. Through a fortuitous combination of international interventions by the International Solar Energy Society, a UNDP SWH project, a planned World Bank project and the national White Paper as well as the imminent capacity problem, the SWH industry was offered an opportunity it could not afford to miss. This paper records the triggering interactions for the past growth and the decline, as well as the expected renewed growth.