During the recent return of load-shedding, many South Africans suffered extended periods without electricity.
The national power grid remains under incredible strain, with the possibility of further power cuts constantly looming over residents.
This situation is aggravated by the dire financial position of Eskom and its inability to turn around its business thanks to historical corruption and mismanagement.
If you are concerned about load-shedding in the future, you may want to purchase a generator, or even a battery bank and an inverter, to help cope with future power failures.
Thankfully, a popular measure to cope with unplanned power cuts – Tesla’s Powerwall – is once again available in South Africa.
The Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion energy storage product which can be used to provide backup power to your home, or even take you off the grid.
Backup power vs off-grid
Living off the grid entirely can be difficult, not to mention expensive.
The average amount of electricity used by a South African household is 30kWh per day, which would require significant electricity storage and generation infrastructure to provide.
It is possible to do this, but most South Africans would be happy just to be immune to the frustration of load-shedding.
The Powerwall is perfect for this application, as it provides 13.5kWh of usable capacity – more than enough to run important appliances during a low-level load-shedding outage.
This all depends on what appliances you run off the Powerwall when the power is out, but if you keep your power usage to your router, lights, computer, and TV, it should easily last you long enough.
If you would like to power your geyser, air conditioning, and other appliances, or increase your maximum off-grid capacity, you can buy multiple Powerwalls and link them together.
These types of solutions have previously been available in South Africa, but the Powerwall offers a more accessible and user-friendly installation than many other DIY battery backups.
Powerwall installation
Tesla’s Powerwall, together with Backup Gateway, will retail at R139,900 in South Africa. This includes VAT and excludes installation costs.
Tesla Powerwall distributor Rubicon told MyBroadband that this is in line with international price points.
The pricing breakdown for the Tesla Powerwall is as follows:
Powerwall: R120,000Backup Gateway: R19,900
Installation costs will typically range from R10,000 to R15,000, although they could be higher for more complex installations or for clients that are far away from major city centres.
Powerwall will be available throughout South Africa and distributed from Rubicon in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth.
Pre-orders may be placed through the Rubicon website, or through Tesla Powerwall Certified Installers.
Tesla Powerwall 2
Usable capacity 13.5kWh
Depth of Discharge 100%
Efficiency 90% round-trip
Power 7kW peak / 5kW continuous
Warranty 10 years
Scalable Up to 10 Powerwalls
Operating Temperature  –20°C to 50°C
Weight 114kg
Certification UL and IEC certified and grid code compliant
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