Water Wheel July/August 2022: Renewable Energy

Abstract

Keeping the sprinklers on – Farmers turning to wind, solar to water thirsty crops Kakamas table grapes farmer Dr Tokka van den Hever reckons it’s been R19.2-million well spent. That’s the initial sum he sunk into capturing energy from the sun, with the electricity generated used to pump Orange River water into his vineyards and to keep the harvest cool before it leaves for markets in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Cape winter, when Van den Hever’s farms need little power, he feeds his surplus into the national grid. This earns credits, which are used in summer when he draws on the Eskom grid. Such have been the savings that, with tax breaks, Van den Hever reckons his sun-fuelled system should pay for itself in six years. Elsewhere in the country, from a lucerne, potatoes and pecan grower in Limpopo with 768 solar panels, to a dairyman in Cookhouse, in the Eastern Cape, who powers his pumps with electricity from his own hydro plants, farmers are looking to renewable energy sources, particularly to water their crops.

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