Page 7 - Issue 2 2023

MEASUREMENT

Looksee launches first, free-to-use solar

score for South African homes

scalating load shedding has South or sides, as well as the slopes of these panes. Horizontal irradiance, which measures
African homeowners looking to the radiant power from sunlight for your specific location in South Africa, and shady
Esolar power as a means to secure conditions from surrounding buildings or vegetation, also play a role in establishing how
their home’s electricity supply. While much electricity can be generated from a solar power system.
many homeowners start with looking “We’ve established that one of the biggest challenges for homeowners looking at
at cost and system sizes, Standard solar power is the difficulty in finding out whether solar power will work efficiently for
Bank recommends an alternative their homes. System prices may be comparable, but the amount of power that will be
option, namely, to look at whether your generated from the same system varies from property to property. This is why LookSee
property is feasible for solar power, as has worked on developing a solar score that helps homeowners understand what they
well as the electricity output you could can reasonably expect from a solar investment in their property,” explains van der
expect from your specific conditions. Hoven.
With this in mind, Standard Bank’s
home efficiency platform LookSee.co.za Simple but effective
has worked with Riskscape, a geo-spatial The LookSee solar score is South Africa’s first free-to-use, online solar scoring
actuarial solutions provider, to develop system that combines geo-spatial data, mathematical algorithms and a selection of
a new, free-to-use, online solar score for technologies to generate a three dimensional grid of a house located in South Africa,
South African homeowners which takes including the height of surrounding buildings and vegetation.
your individual property conditions into Despite the complexity of the system’s supporting technology provided by specialist
account in determining solar power data partner Riskscape, the LookSee solar score is remarkably easy to use and only
feasibility. The LookSee solar score is requires that homeowners enter their full home address into the search field. The
one of the first of its kind to provide system then analyses the property against the various solar factors to calculate a
this level of insight into South Africa’s feasibility and efficiency rating.
residential properties.
Standard Bank’s head of digital and These ratings result in a solar score out of 100:
eCommerce, Andrew van der Hoven, SCORING DESCRIPTION

explains: “South Africa offers excellent
conditions for solar power, but this does Unfeasible Your property will not benefit from a solar installation because the
not mean that the conditions of every 0-40 amount of electricity that can be harnessed from the sun is low.
property are excellent. For instance, This could be due to a lack of sunlight, your roof being at a poor
your neighbour may be able to go angle to the sun, or the shape and slope of your roof not being
completely off the grid or, where the optimal.
regulations allow, will be able to sell
electricity back into the grid, while your Low Your property could benefit from an entry-level solar installation,
house may only support a medium-sized 40-50 but the output from the system could potentially be limited.
solar system with lower production
potential.” Average Your property, like most residences in South Africa, could benefit
There are a variety of factors which
determine whether a solar installation 50-60 from a solar installation due to a combination of roof area and its
is feasible for a particular home. The north facing cardinal direction.
first factor is the cardinal direction of Good Your property offers above average feasibility for a solar
the various roof panes, as only the sides 60-70 installation and might be able to support an ‘off the grid’ system.
that are facing a northerly direction
will get enough direct sunlight hours. Excellent Your property has the best solar installation potential and could
This is followed by a calculation of the 70-100 allow you to go ‘off the grid’ as well as sell back to the grid
roof area to establish how many panels opportunities, if local authorities permit.
can be supported on the optimal panes

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