Climate Tech in South Africa: Building Solutions When the Grid Is Already Broken

Amara: South Africa's load-shedding has been described as one of the worst electricity crises in the world. From your vantage point as an energy startup founder, what does that mean day to day?

Naledi: It means I've had more real-world pilots of energy management technology in the last three years than most startups in Europe or North America would get in a decade. When your potential customers are having the lights go out for 10 hours a day, the sales cycle is very short. The question isn't "do we need this?" — it's "can you install it by next week?"

Amara: What does Solaris Africa actually sell?

Naledi: We sell energy resilience packages for small and medium businesses — solar panels, battery storage, and our energy management software, which optimises when you draw from the grid, when you discharge batteries, and when you switch to solar depending on load-shedding schedules and time-of-use tariffs. The hardware is off-the-shelf — we don't manufacture anything. The differentiation is the software and the financing.

Amara: Financing?

Naledi: This is where most energy startups stumble in Africa. The hardware costs £15,000-40,000 for a typical SME installation. Most South African businesses can't write that check upfront. We've built a leasing model with a local bank where the business pays a monthly fee that's less than their current diesel generator costs. The payback period is three to five years. That's a straightforward business case that closes.