Working in South Africa’s renewable energy business for more than 20 years has given Frank Spencer an overview of the entire manufacturing side of the industry, which he leverages, realizing the value chain for Bushveld Energy’s push into batteries.
This profile was published in African Power & Energy Elites 2023.
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As an engineer with a master’s degree in inverter technology, having qualified in the late 1990s, Spencer realized early in his career that technical solutions alone would not solve energy problems. This led him to complete a philosophy degree in sustainable development in the late 2000s.
While also a board member of the South African Photovoltaic Industries Association (SAPVIA), Spencer is now well positioned to establish the entire value chain for vanadium redox flow batteries in South Africa. This is from mining the mineral to manufacturing all the battery components and assembling them, then delivering them to local utility-scale battery projects. “This really excites me as we need to solve the interconnected problems in South Africa such as poor electricity supply, energy poverty, skills and unemployment.”
The first time he felt the impact of what first-time energy access could do was on a trip to a mountain village in Lesotho in the mid-2000s. The village was only accessible by a 4Γ4 vehicle, the which did not bother the experienced engineer.
βThe local pastor had a small solar PV system, enough to power a few lights in his home and community and to charge cell phones. Before that, there was no electric lighting in the village and the only way to communicate would be a six-hour walk to the nearest community with a telephone.β The village luckily had a line of sight to a cell phone tower in the valley.
“It was transformative to see how a little light and a little conversation had benefited this village so much that they could now have evening activities as well as talk to people effortlessly.”
For him, the biggest challenge facing the continent’s energy sector is the link between poor policies and weak regulatory environments. βSolar and battery technology has achieved a price and sufficient growth to be able to deliver affordable, quality electricity to all, but governments are often trapped in outdated thinking around the electricity models of the last century, while at the same time they allow themselves to be swayed by the vested interests of established fossil fuel industries.”
In Spencer’s view, the focus should be on the adoption of clean, distributed renewable energy technologies, as this can unlock local economic and SME growth and produce clean, carbon-neutral goods in which the rest people are starting to insist.
Given his view that electricity issues are too often regulated by government, Spencer is of the opinion that the private sector should be given more room to act as “there is a significant investment that can be unleashed while developing local skills to construction, installation and operation of renewable energy units”.
He adds that policies need to be adjusted to make them more palatable to the private sector, while pushing for local skills development and technology transfer.
Spencer, a keen conference speaker, will tailor a presentation on Africa’s energy sector to suit his audience. For example, if he were addressing an international audience, his topic would be Africa’s climate renaissance. “I will unpack how Africa can grow and be energized by bypassing any need for fossil fuel-based thermal energy.”
He explains that the international community has yet to realize what a green power Africa could be. “We have a narrow window to solve our climate problems, and Africa can do it faster than other continents while growing its economies significantly.”
Being willing to share his knowledge, Spencer has helped friends and family with backup facilities for the parts he can legally do. “My general recommendation in Cape Town is to get as big a solar PV system as you can fit on your roof, with an adequately sized battery to avoid load shedding.” His advice centers on the City of Cape Town’s plan to soon buy electricity from residential consumers at an attractive price. βI don’t recommend a backup battery by itself because it consumes more electricity than it produces. It really makes loading worse if it’s not combined with local generation, like rooftop solar.β ESI