Exploring the possibility of the insurance industry as a solar water heater driver in South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa is facing an energy crisis on two levels; the existing capacity to supply electricity isunable to support future growth in demand, and the electricity being produced comes mostly fromcoal-fired power stations with associated emission problems. The South African government has atarget for renewable energy to service 23% of the country's energy consumption by 2013. Thiscould potentially be realised through achievement of another government target, the installation ofone million Solar Water Heaters (SWHs).On a technical level, Solar Water Heaters (SWHs) represent a completely viable renewable energyalternative for South Africa. It is an established and proven technology which has the potential tohave a big impact on the country's electricity capacity problems. SWHs can be used in a variety ofapplications from industry to households. Most of the hot water in South African homes is heatedby electric resistance heating in standard electric water heaters and there are no technicalobstacles to replacing most of these with SWHs, thereby delivering a saving of up to 70% of thewater heating energy bill. Water heating currently accounts for 40% of domestic electricityconsumption within a residential sector that uses 20-30% of the national supply. At the macroscale,the roll out of SWH programmes is completely scalable.The benefits of SWH installation accrue to the consumer in the form of a financial saving in thelong-term and to society in the form of reduced emissions. Awareness of the benefits is growingamongst the general public, commercial institutions and in government. Sales are starting to pickup due to, amongst other reasons, electricity price hikes and government subsidies for SWHinstallations offered through the national electricity supply company, Eskom. A national buildingregulation enforcing energy-efficient water heating in new buildings has been drafted and isexpected to be in place by mid 2011.The rate of change from electric to solar water heaters remains disappointingly slow, however.The SWH industry in South Africa accounts for less than 10% of total hot water solutions sold.This study sought to establish the opportunities as well as possible barriers for the creation of SWHprogrammes within the insurance sector. Close to 50% of all standard electric water heatersinstalled in South Africa are procured and installed via the insurance industry due to the failure ofunits that have endured beyond the manufacturer's guarantee period. This presents anopportunity for interventions that encourage policyholders to change to SWHs. Such interventions,if successful, would dramatically speed up the roll out of SWHs in South Africa. In addition the study sought to determine the barriers to the uptake of SWHs by policyholders in the case of thetwo insurance companies that currently have SWH programmes in operation.Data was collected through interviews with representatives in the insurance industry and a range ofSWH industry stakeholders and consumers. The literature review focused on SWH policies andregulations and corporate and marketing theories. The material on transition in socio-technologicalsystems proved especially useful in understanding the complex dynamics of the study topic.The conclusion drawn from the research is that the South African insurance industry has thecapacity and opportunity to drive the penetration of SWH technology. The opportunity is, howevernot being exploited to anywhere near its potential. The entire system is geared towards providinga particular 'business-as-usual' solution. Analysis conducted in this study confirms that the systemis in a 'locked-in state and extremely resistant to change. If the opportunity is to be acted on, tosupplant the dominant technology for water heating installed by the insurance industry with what iscurrently a niche technology (SWHs), an external landscape shock is almost certainly needed.This shock to the system could be aided by interventions that target a change in the currentsystem's logic. The study provides some suggestions in this regard.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University