Written By: Faith Jemosop
Solar power is booming in South Africa. Rooftops are glowing. Batteries are humming. Middle-class homes have become islands of light in seas of darkness.
But here’s the question: Who’s really benefiting from this green revolution?
Tonight, on The Fine Print, we expose the truth behind South Africa’s solar boom:
It’s deepening the divide and apartheid’s ghost is lighting the way.
Let’s start with what happened.
Between 2020 and 2024, the number of small-scale solar installations in South Africa skyrocketed. In 2020, they made up just 38% of the solar network. Today? That number is 74%. Loadshedding played a big role. Power cuts of up to 12 hours a day drove desperate homeowners to install panels and batteries.
Sounds like a win for energy independence, right?
Not quite.
Researchers studied satellite images from 2016 to 2023. They found that while most of urban South Africa dimmed during blackouts, certain suburbs stayed bright. When they matched those images with census data, the pattern was clear.
Wealthy, white-majority neighborhoods kept their lights on. Poor, Black-majority areas didn’t.
There were almost no solar panels in the townships. Meanwhile, the suburbs were swimming in them.
This isn’t just inequality. It’s digital apartheid a clean, green, solar version of segregation.
And it gets worse.
Also read: South Africa’s Coal Addiction Is Sabotaging Its Climate Promises
As more people go off-grid, traditional electricity providers like Eskom lose paying customers. The result? Eskom can’t recover its costs. Tariffs go up. Blackouts increase. And the poor get punished again this time by a system that was supposed to save them.
Let’s be clear: solar is not the villain. The system is.
South Africa’s green transition has no safety net. No incentives for low-income households. No community solar projects. No subsidized battery programs. The market rewards the rich and ignores the rest.
This is a policy failure.
Globally, the energy transition is about justice. In Germany, low-income households get solar grants. In California, community solar gardens allow renters to benefit from clean energy. In Kenya, solar microgrids light up entire villages.
But in South Africa? Solar is a status symbol.
So what needs to change?
First, level the field. Introduce targeted subsidies for solar in low-income areas. Use Eskom’s Just Energy Transition funds to back rooftop solar where it’s needed most.
Second, regulate net metering. Wealthy households feeding excess power into the grid must pay their share to maintain it. Otherwise, Eskom collapses, and everyone suffers.
Also read: How Governments Can Accelerate Africa’s Renewable Energy Future
Third, stop pretending private solar can replace public power. It can’t. South Africa needs a stable grid. That means Eskom must be restructured, debt must be addressed, and generation must be diversified.
And finally, acknowledge the truth.
This is not just about watts and volts. It’s about dignity. About making sure that in a country built on division, clean energy doesn’t become another wall.
Because a light bulb in Sandton should not come at the cost of darkness in Soweto.
South Africa’s green future must be inclusive. Or it won’t be green at all.
