Zamlim Is Scaling Up Its Actions In C&I Photo voltaic & Electrical Mobility in South Africa

The South African C&I photo voltaic sector is crimson scorching proper now. South Africa’s nationwide energy utility firm Eskom reckons that there’s now about 4,412 MW of photo voltaic PV put in within the South African C&I and residential sectors. That’s 4.4 GW of distributed photo voltaic, and the excellent news is that about 3,000 MW of this was added in simply over a yr, from March 2022 to June 2023. It simply goes to indicate how briskly photo voltaic could be added to the ability era combine. There’s nonetheless quite a lot of potential to scale issues to even greater ranges. There are nonetheless quite a lot of empty rooftops, carparks, and tracts of land out there to unlock much more clear era capability.

Zamlim, a consulting, engineering, procurement, and development agency (EPC) that can also be a venture developer, is now working to ramp up its operations within the C&I photo voltaic sector in South Africa. Its portfolio pipeline now consists of companies corresponding to giant authentic tools producers of mining tools and in addition to the oil main gasoline forecourts. The plans can also embrace battery storage on a few of their buyer websites as extra corporates look to protect themselves from the by no means ending electrical energy rationing programme referred to as loadshedding.

Zamlim are additionally working with the South African Chamber of Commerce & Business on a product known as “Energy For You,” which the Chamber of Commerce will supply to its members. The South African Chamber of Commerce & Business has about 20,000 members and this type of package deal will enable a extra frictionless expertise in these sorts of B2B transactions.

To facilitate a extra complete package deal for his or her potential shoppers, the Zamlim consortium consists of ENS Africa, which can deal with the deal structuring for his or her shoppers, whereas Zamlim handles extra of the EPC and enterprise growth. In addition they work with South Africa’s Division of Commerce, Business and Competitors’s (DTIC) Vitality-One-Cease store. Zamlim’s anchor funder is the Industrial Growth Company of South Africa, (the IDC).

Zamlim managing director Dzingira Matenga says “Our energy safety challenges within the Southern African Energy Pool (SAPP), mockingly presents a once-in-a-lifetime alternative for our corporates to embed self-generation capability and grow to be independent and over time add worth to their companies and decrease their working price curve.”

One other space that’s beginning to get some traction in South Africa is the electrical mobility sector. Gross sales of electrical vehicles have doubled this yr in comparison with the identical interval final yr. 501 battery-electric vehicles had been offered within the first half of 2023. Nevertheless, asset possession in South Africa is decrease than comparable markets as a consequence of excessive rates of interest and entry degree prices, particularly for bigger automobiles like vehicles, vans, and pickups. Micromobility presents a extra inclusive alternative particularly for the youth and within the final mile supply and logistics sector. Smaller electrical automobiles corresponding to electrical bicycles and bikes can play a key position in growing entry to move options given the costing of e-bikes and e-scooters, in comparison with vehicles. Due to this fact, Zamlim has targeted on electrical bicycles with a robust give attention to monetary inclusion.

Though there are actually fairly a couple of gamers within the e-bike sector in South Africa, lots of people simply can not afford to purchase electrical bicycles. To be able to get extra folks to afford micromobility choices corresponding to e-bikes for private and commuter use in addition to industrial use them within the final mile supply sector, there must be components that allow this monetary inclusion, together with versatile fee fashions together with different progressive approaches. Zamlim is at the moment working with a high 4 financial institution in South Africa to develop a mannequin that transitions e-bikers from renters to house owners, by way of a lease-financing product.

The chance within the last-mile-delivery B2B and B2C segments is important. To assist catalyze this course of which may also assist decarbonize the final mile supply sector, Zamlim and its companions are designing the roll-out of a pilot venture in Alexandra, Johannesburg. Throughout the pilot, about fifty folks from the underprivileged neighborhood of Alexandria Township will likely be issued with electrical bicycles to ship e-commerce merchandise round Northern Johannesburg. Zamlim and its companions will use this pilot section to trace the efficiency of the bikes and battery swap stations in addition to information related to the supply service.

After the pilot, they may use the information and findings to boost extra funding to scale up the venture in addition to work with authorities on key areas corresponding to coverage across the e-bikes and the remainder of the ecosystem. Areas to be checked out embrace introduction of extra bike lanes in addition to highway security, amongst others. They may also look into the financial alternatives for South Africa, together with the worth to be doubtlessly realized from growing the native manufacture of those electrical bicycles, batteries, and battery swapping and charging facilities.

Picture courtesy of Zamlim

The staff may also fee an in depth monetary and economics examine and use this to:

• Appropriately measurement bigger scale e-bike roll-outs throughout South Africa.
• Outline battery limits for a South African e-bike business (economies of scale and captive market) versus further downstream performs for the SA non-public sector (e.g., native manufacturing).
• Use design inputs from technical examine to refine capex necessities and return metrics.

For the pilot, Zamlim is working with Greenriders. The pilot will begin with two websites, one in Alexandria township the place the riders will likely be educated, and a battery swapping heart will likely be hosted in a suburban location to be in shut proximity to the shoppers they are going to be serving. A few of the proposed prospects embrace the Division of Well being, township restaurant house owners, Uber Eats, and Mr. Supply. I’m trying ahead to seeing this pilot progress, in addition to the ultimate outcomes and suggestions from this system.

Picture courtesy of Inexperienced Riders