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 sizzling 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 12 months, from March 2022 to June 2023. It simply goes to indicate how briskly photo voltaic may be added to the ability technology combine. There may be nonetheless a number of potential to scale issues to even increased ranges. There are nonetheless a number of empty rooftops, carparks, and tracts of land out there to unlock much more clear technology capability.

Zamlim, a consulting, engineering, procurement, and building agency (EPC) that can also be a undertaking developer, is now working to ramp up its operations within the C&I photo voltaic sector in South Africa. Its portfolio pipeline now contains companies resembling giant unique gear producers of mining gear and in addition to the oil main gasoline forecourts. The plans may embody battery storage on a few of their buyer websites as extra corporates look to defend themselves from the by no means ending electrical energy rationing programme generally known as loadshedding.

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

To facilitate a extra complete bundle for his or her potential shoppers, the Zamlim consortium contains ENS Africa, which is able to 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, Trade and Competitors’s (DTIC) Power-One-Cease store. Zamlim’s anchor funder is the Industrial Improvement Company of South Africa, (the IDC).

Zamlim managing director Dzingira Matenga says “Our energy safety challenges within the Southern African Energy Pool (SAPP), sarcastically presents a once-in-a-lifetime alternative for our corporates to embed self-generation capability and turn into self sustaining and over time add worth to their companies and decrease their working value 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 12 months in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months. 501 battery-electric vehicles have been bought within the first half of 2023. Nonetheless, asset possession in South Africa is decrease than comparable markets on account of excessive rates of interest and entry stage 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 resembling electrical bicycles and bikes can play a key function in rising entry to move options given the costing of e-bikes and e-scooters, in comparison with vehicles. Subsequently, Zamlim has centered on electrical bicycles with a robust deal with monetary inclusion.

Though there are actually fairly a couple of gamers within the e-bike sector in South Africa, lots of people simply can’t afford to purchase electrical bicycles. As a way to get extra folks to afford micromobility choices resembling 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 cost fashions together with different modern approaches. Zamlim is at present working with a prime 4 financial institution in South Africa to develop a mannequin that transitions e-bikers from renters to homeowners, 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 can even assist decarbonize the final mile supply sector, Zamlim and its companions are designing the roll-out of a pilot undertaking in Alexandra, Johannesburg. In the course of 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 part to trace the efficiency of the bikes and battery swap stations in addition to knowledge related to the supply service.

Picture courtesy of Zamlim

After the pilot, they are going to use the info and findings to lift extra funding to scale up the undertaking in addition to work with authorities on key areas resembling coverage across the e-bikes and the remainder of the ecosystem. Areas to be checked out embody introduction of extra bike lanes in addition to highway security, amongst others. They can even look into the financial alternatives for South Africa, together with the worth to be doubtlessly realized from rising the native manufacture of those electrical bicycles, batteries, and battery swapping and charging facilities.

Picture courtesy of Zamlim

The crew can even 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 trade (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 skilled, and a battery swapping middle will likely be hosted in a suburban location to be in shut proximity to the purchasers they are going to be serving. A number of the proposed prospects embody the Division of Well being, township restaurant homeowners, Uber Eats, and Mr. Supply. I’m wanting ahead to seeing this pilot progress, in addition to the ultimate outcomes and proposals from this system.

Picture courtesy of Inexperienced Riders