Peet and Mary Booysen

Name: Peet and Mary Booysen
Organisation: SETSolar
Position: Members and Owners

Has the power crisis earlier this year increased interest in renewable energy products?

I would say two factors this year increased the interest (though not necessary sales) in renewable energy besides global warming. One is load-shedding, and the other is the sudden increase in the cost of electricity per KWhr.

In the medium/long-term, is solar power cost-effective for commercial enterprises?

If you compare the capital expense versus the return on investment, it is only cost-effective in the long term for now. We hope to have a FIT (feed-in-tariff) scheme from ESKOM 2009/2010 and that will help the return on investment (ROI) when ESKOM commit to buy back electricity generated with “green” technology.

Are there any particular incentives for people to turn to solar-powered technologies?

If you mean financial incentives then yes, there is only one for solar hot-water systems at the moment, the details of which are on ESKOM’s website. There are no incentives for photovoltaic’s (solar electricity) at the moment.

Would you consider investing in other renewable technologies, ie: biofuels, hydro or wind?

Yes, we have a 113 litre/day pilot bio-diesel plant (fuel used for generators). We are in the process of developing the first local BIWT (building integrated wind turbine) and we are also increasing our presence in the energy efficiency industry as renewable energy and energy efficiency complement one another.

We are also considering solar cell manufacturing based on a novel metallurgical silicon process for the local market.

Do your products tend to sell locally, or is there interest internationally as well?

In the 2008 financial period we will focus on the “cornerstones” of our business. One is serving the local market first. We had several inquiries from the US and Europe (Italy and Spain) but we decided to “crawl” first. We opened the doors in May 2008 and we have already done R9.5m of business with 100 customers, making the right product per industry.