The new scheme doesn’t exactly make it easy for denizens to earn, but those who are willing to jump through the bureaucratic hoops can use the credit from their excess generation to settle their municipal account and bank the change for a rainy day.

Cape Town’s ‘Cash for Power’ plan

The city’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, announced on Monday that the first round of applications is open now until 8 March, saying “We will buy as much solar power as households and businesses can sell to us under the Cash for Power programme.”

Along with selling excess power, willing households can also opt to have their geysers switched off remotely during peak times as an extra measure to avoid a full load-shedding stage.

Businesses that meet the requirements are also permitted to sell their excess power to other participating businesses, a move that is expected to add 350MW to Cape Town’s power grid.

Read More: South Africa’s new plan to end power cuts is seriously flawed. Here’s why

Households and businesses interested in selling off their excess power should become familiar with this page. It lays out the required steps, like having a “City-approved” inverter installed, additional notes, and the relevant documentation along with the appropriate application channels for commercial and residential customers.

Cape Town’s Cash for Power programme announcement comes mere days after South Africa’s president concluded his State of the Nation address saying that the end of load shedding was “finally within reach” before the country escalated to Stage 6 power cuts for the first time this year.

The strategic collaboration makes alternative and backup power solutions affordable to the mid and lower market segments affected most by the loss of income and quality of life from the unstable grid.

With Eskom forced to implement Level 6 load shedding in November and forecasting significant shortfalls in power generation for 2024, there has never been a better time to invest in grid independence. “With soaring petrol prices, many South African businesses and homes are looking for alternatives to generators,” says Vinny Perumal, CEO at Verteco.

“An all-in-one unit integrating an inverter and batteries, like the Huawei Power-M, is an attractive option. Best of all, such a solution lets you start small and grow your installation over time. Plus, it’s completely ready for solar panels, giving you the choice to use clean renewable energy for some of your needs, while saving money on electricity.”

Perumal says that investing in alternative energy will not only help you to beat the load shedding blues – it may also boost the value of your property. A modern all-in-one solution will not detract from the beauty of your home. It should offer a compact footprint, allowing for mounting on the floor or a wall, according to your aesthetic preferences and space.

The Huawei Power-M battery and inverter system is an all-encompassing solution designed to provide seamless backup power during extended outages, alleviating the challenges posed by load shedding. Advanced safety features such as a built-in fire suppression system make it safe to install indoors and ideal for small apartments or businesses with limited space.

With the modular Huawei Power-M,  customers can start small and grow their installation over time, with systems ranging in size from 5kWh to 15kWh. Up to three units can be installed in parallel, for a maximum of 45kWh. Installation complies with the South African National Standards (SANS), including double surge protection, and meets the requirements of insurers and the bank providing financing.

The alternative energy market has matured over the past few years, with brands such as Huawei and Verteco collaborating with banks like Absa to make solutions more budget-friendly, says Perumal. Consumers and SMEs are assured that their investments in batteries, inverters, and solar solutions are future-proof when working with stable brands and installers.

“Households will not need to sit in the dark over the festive season and SMEs will not miss out on valuable seasonal trade due to power outages. The unit switches on seamlessly in the event of grid instability or outages, ensuring that essential appliances, devices, and lights keep running smoothly,” says Perumal.

“Investing in a future-proof backup power solution will protect your lifestyle or business from the impact of frequent power outages. In the longer term, it will help you to cushion yourself against rising power costs and to be part of the move away from coal towards a more sustainable energy future.”

Visit www.myfusionsolar.co.za to learn more.

“We are starting the process of gazetting, so we are triggering essentially a procurement process,” said Ramokgopa. Gazetting is quite a long way from breaking ground on a nuclear facility, with the minister saying that it might be four years before the country sees any measurable difference from the plan.

Nuclear family planning

However, we should expect that the plan to add a whole new nuclear facility to the grid will take quite a bit longer. Almost a decade, according to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy director-general Zizamele Mbambo. “We found that the ideal time by which to start commissioning the first unit of this 2,500MW is around 2032/2033,” he said.

We’d expect a measured approach to any new power generation capacity, even if it’s unpleasant to have to wait in the darkness. That is doubly important when the capacity is nuclear in nature. Still, the ball for this project was supposed to have been rolling already, with the first influx of extra power starting around 2025. You might recall the Russian reactor project that was eventually killed off in court. The country appears to have moved on from that point, with additional renewable projects in the works in addition to this high-capacity but long-term project.

After a weekend of Stage 6 power cuts (and 30-degree heat to go with it), Eskom is finally easing up. It can’t do much about the heat (which should be lessening on Wednesday), but it can do something about load shedding, announcing that the country would be going from Stage 6 to Stage 4. At 05:00 this morning, the country was reduced to Stage 3.

Unfortunately, it won’t stay that way for long. At 16:00 on Monday, 27 November, Eskom will be implementing Stage 4, with Stage 3 returning at 05:00 tomorrow, Tuesday 28 November. That pattern will continue for most of the week – until Thursday – or until Eskom says otherwise.

Thanks to Stage 6’s return last week, it allowed Eskom’s “replenishment of the emergency reserves at our pumped storage and Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) power stations.” Specifically, Eskom reckons that we’ll see 2,500 MW of generating capacity “return to service by Tuesday evening.”

“Unplanned outages are currently at 15,368MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,617MW,” the state-owned power utility said.

Ubisoft’s in-game ads are probably just the beginning

After Far Cry 6, you probably didn’t think Ubisoft could get much worse. Don’t feel bad. We were right there alongside you. Oh, how wrong we were. Over the weekend, a Redditor in the r/xboxone subreddit noted that they had received an in-game advertisement (full-screen!) in the middle of an Assassin’s Creed session. Before opening the map, no less.

In the words of the top commentor: “Yeah this kind of s**t should be considered unacceptable.” We couldn’t agree more. This wasn’t an isolated case, either. Tons of gamers playing through Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins on consoles this past weekend – already an unfortunate situation – were greeted with the same sort of full-page ads, advertising the developer and publisher’s Black Friday deals for the newcomer of the series; Mirage.

Ubisoft wasted no time responding, with a post on X.com ‘confirming’ that the in-game ad was a “technical error,” – one that has now been fixed. “Our intention was to display a promotion for Assassin’s Creed Mirage as part of the franchise news in the main menu of other Assassin’s Creed games.” Our guess? Ubisoft was “quietly” gauging the internet’s reaction – hoping to slip by unnoticed before rolling something like this out across the entire library.

Fortunately, if there’s one thing gamers hate more than Ubisoft, it’s ads.

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Casetify lands itself in some hot water

Dbrand, the company that makes some of the best smartphone cases out there (and keycaps that’ll draw blood and tell you to “F*** off”) is suing its biggest rival; Casetify – a company worth over $1 billion. It’s claiming that Casetify blatantly ripped off its own line of Teardown skins, which is a range of skins that are made to look like the internals of the device they’re stuck to.

We’re firm believers in being innocent until proven guilty. And, while there has been no official ruling on this case, Casetify is certainly guilty. In a thread on X.com, Dbrand provided a surplus of evidence that proved Casetify had “Copy & Pastefied” that specific line of skins – like repeating easter eggs that are only significant to Dbrand’s own… brand.

Not long after Dbrand made its claims, Casetify pulled its “own” line of ‘Inside Out’ skins off its website, noting on X.com that it has “always been a bastion of originality.” Yeah, right.

Speaking with The Verge, Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz said, “We are under no illusion that dbrand owns the idea of taking apart phones and scanning them. The fact of the matter is that [Casetify] repurposed our existing designs for their products, then went to great lengths to conceal their illegitimate appropriation of our work.”

With the offending line-up taken down and a court case in the works, there shouldn’t be much more to the story than a few snarky posts from the Dbrand X.com admin. But no. Dbrand later brought attention to Casetify hastily removing another skin line-up during the ensuing chaos – the X-Ray design – one that was reportedly stolen, not from Dbrand, but iFixit.

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Believe it! Naruto is going live-action

After Sony’s Avi Arad and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto announced that a Legend of Zelda live-action film was in the works, we didn’t think our year could get any worse. We spoke a little too soon apparently, as Lionsgate provided a big update to a live-action project that’s been stuck in development hell for years: Naruto finally has a screenwriter.

That’s all according to Variety’s list of screenwriters to be on the lookout for, which claims Tasha Huo has signed onto the project over at the studio. A Naruto live-action film is apparently on her hitlist – after she finishes her work on Netflix’s Tomb Raider animation series and the upcoming Red Sonja film to which she is currently tied.

There’s almost no other news to be gleaned from the announcement. Cast, release dates, and specific plot points are still under wraps – presumably until Tuo manages to actually write them down. We know Avi Arad has been attached to the project since its announcement in 2015 (no surprises there), but nothing else. It doesn’t exactly fill us with joy, either.

Mark Wahlberg as Jiraiya, anyone?

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Historic Price Drops

EcoFlow’s Black Friday sale presents a golden opportunity to acquire cutting-edge power solutions at unbeatable prices. The highlight of this sale is undoubtedly the award-winning DELTA 2, EcoFlow’s flagship portable power station. Now, for a limited time, customers can enjoy an astounding 28% discount, making the DELTA 2 available for just R17999. That’s a remarkable R7000 in savings.

The DELTA 2 is a testament to cutting-edge power innovation, with the ability to expand its capacity from 1-3kWh, fully recharge in just 80 minutes, and deliver an impressive 1800W of rated power output. This performance can be elevated to a staggering 2400W with X-Boost, seamlessly powering up to 90% of household appliances, including microwaves, coffee machines, kettles, and hair dryers.

Turning to the versatile RIVER 2 Max

Equally enticing in this Black Friday extravaganza is the RIVER 2 Max, EcoFlow’s versatile portable power station. The RIVER 2 Max enjoys an impressive 38% price reduction, now available at just R7999, providing customers with a significant R5000 saving.

With a substantial 512Wh battery capacity and a quick recharge time of as little as one hour, the RIVER 2 Max offers substantial power reserves. Boasting a 500W rated power output, expandable to 1000W with X-Boost this unit efficiently caters to basic household and outdoor appliance needs, from powering TVs and game consoles to refrigerators.

Portable Power On-the-Go: RIVER 2

The RIVER 2, another member of EcoFlow’s product lineup, is equally appealing with a generous 43% price reduction. During this Black Friday sale, the RIVER 2 is available for only R3999, offering an attractive R3000 discount.

Compact yet powerful, the RIVER 2 features a high-capacity 256Wh battery and a rapid charging time of just one hour. With a 300W rated power output, expandable to 600W with X-Boost, RIVER 2 is perfect for essential electronic devices, including smartphones, laptops, WiFi routers, cameras, and even televisions.

A Decade of Power Assurance

Both the DELTA 2 and RIVER 2 series offer peace of mind with their impressive battery life of 3000 cycles, guaranteeing a decade of reliable power. To further ensure product quality, EcoFlow extends a reassuring 5-year warranty on these exceptional units. Their on-site after-sales service team is dedicated to providing top-notch service to earn your trust.

Solar Panels: The Sustainable Energy Companion

For those looking to harness the power of the sun, EcoFlow offers substantial discounts on its Solar Panels. Bundling with DELTA 2 or RIVER 2 Series, customers can enjoy savings of up to 47%. This unique pairing transforms portable power stations into sustainable Solar Generators, allowing users to reduce their grid dependency and access a source of long-term, eco-friendly power for off-grid living.

EcoFlow’s Black Friday Deals will run throughout November, from November 1 to November 31. It’s an opportunity for customers to save up to 47%, with the maximum saving occurring at R27999, on their favourite power solutions. Detailed information about the discounts and promotions can be found on the official EcoFlow website or the Takealot store.

Still waiting for Apple to deliver something new in the iMac department? You might not have to wait for much longer if Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has anything to say about it. And say about it he does, over in his weekly Power On newsletter, making some bold claims that suddenly has our hopes up for a surprise end-of-October iMac release. 

When Gurman speaks, you listen. Even if the next-biggest Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, reckons that the same refreshed model is only landing in 2024.  

The last time Apple got around to updating the iMac was back in 2021 with the M1 chip shoved in, more than 900 days ago, Gurman notes. That’ll be changing soon if Gurman’s sources claiming that 24in iMac refresh, complete with a… well, we’re not sure… are correct. Gurman avoided any specifics of the new Mac, but he’s gone on record before with an M3 processor prediction. 

As for when we could see the reveal, Gurman’s got his fingers crossed for a 30-31 October unveiling. He cites Apple’s 2 November earnings as a sure sign that something is coming in these earlier days with Apple usually sticking to a late October date for that. The last time Apple moved earnings up to November preceded a 30 October iPad and Mac event. 

That’s good enough for us.  

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Load shedding is kept at bay. Again

After pulling off an unheard-of weekend on no load shedding, Eskom is keeping that streak alive with the publishing of a new schedule – one that’ll only see load shedding return on Tuesday. Really. 

That’s according to a tweet post from the state-owned utility on Sunday morning, confirming that Stage 1 is making a return on Tuesday at 16:00 and will be suspended at 05:00 the following Wednesday. Expect that pattern to repeat daily until Eskom says otherwise.  

You can thank the “continued improved generation fleet performance” and the recovery of Eskom’s emergency reserves for the delayed return to rolling blackouts, with that additional 800MW from Kusile’s generating unit 1 that came back online at the beginning of October. 

Eskom’s statement mentioned that the total breakdowns amount to 13,559MW of energy, with a further 4,765MW of power being unavailable due to maintenance.  

Alienware’s spicing up the OLED monitor market 

Even in 2023, OLED monitors are few and far between. They’re beautiful and very, very expensive. Good luck getting hold of Asus’ latest piece of wizardry from that department. Even if you do manage to find one, it’ll require the forking over of R35,000 for the privilege of taking it home. Now, Alienware is looking to one-up Asus’ efforts.  

It’ll do that by releasing two QD-OLED monitors this coming January, both of which were briefly shown off during a TwitchCon livestream. Other than that, Alienware is keeping things quiet on the specs front. The first is a 32in 4K QD-OLED panel that’ll probably match Asus with a 240Hz refresh rate and matches other OLED monitors in the market.  

The other is worth getting a little more excited about. It’s also rocking a QD-OLED panel, with the only confirmed spec being the monitor’s 360Hz refresh rate. Don’t expect anything higher than a 1440p panel – though we can’t make any promises on that front.  

Alienware will clear all that up, along with the monitors’ prices, hopefully at CES 2024, which will open its doors on Tuesday, 9 January, and close on Friday, 12 January. Hopefully, we’ll get some idea of local availability around then, too.  

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Diablo IV’s marketing is unhinged

“Something was pouring from his mouth. He examined his sleeve. Blood? Blood.” We imagine that’s how Blizzard’s PR team kicked off its latest meeting, where it cooked up one of the strangest giveaways we’ve ever seen; a Diablo IV-themed gaming PC that’s infused with blood. Human blood.  

That’s not a joke, either. To celebrate Diablo IV’s incoming Season of Blood, uh, season, and the ongoing Blood Harvest events, Blizzard is launching a month-long mass blood harvest drive in the US as part of a push to get enough blood to make the PC a reality. Once donations cross the 666-quart goal, sweepstakes for “a custom liquid-cooled PC infused with real human blood,” will open. 

It’s odd, yeah, but you’ve got to admit that it’s also rather… rad. How many people can say that they’ve got the blood of who knows how many people cooling down their PC? A PC that’s sporting an RTX 4090, Intel Core i9 CPU, 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and 3TB of SSD storage. And you won’t even have to donate to enter. Anyone over the age of 18 in the US can enter and donate at whichever blood bank they’d prefer. 

It’s not all bad for those outside the US. When Blizzard’s got enough proof that 33% of the goal has been reached, it’ll unlock five new weapon cosmetics in-game. Get that up to 66% and you’ll get hold of the Loch Raeth Maor Barbarian armour cosmetic. 

If a blood-infused PC isn’t your style, Xbox is currently running a Diablo-themed Xbox giveaway that might be more your speed. Give it a look.  

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Elon Musk is getting desperate. That’s been the case for a while where Twitter, now X, is concerned. The platform was losing money long before Musk took the joke too far and dropped $44 billion back in October. The company’s single-letter rebrand didn’t help matters, thanks to a 50% drop in advertising revenue and a “heavy debt load”. That’s why we weren’t especially surprised when Musk floated the idea of a “small” monthly entry fee that would give users access to the service.

During an ‘AI Safety Roundtable’ that was live-streamed on X, Musk mentioned the idea of a monthly fee for all was the only way he could think of to “combat the vast armies of bots.” True, Twitter/X has been plagued with bots for years, long before Musk’s reign began. Whether a monthly fee is the platform’s best bet at combating them, however, is another matter altogether.

Musk didn’t delve into any more detail on the possible fee, like how much it would cost, when it would launch, or if a subscription-based platform would add any real benefits to the service’s currently free tier. Don’t expect that to be the case for long – Musk is the type to put his on-a-whim ideas into action quickly, regardless of the outcome.

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Eskom gets a win

Eskom is officially suspending load shedding today, Tuesday, 19 September. And we don’t even have to thank the ANC’s polling tactics for this one. In a recent announcement, Eskom pointed towards “improved available generation capacity,” and “breakdowns significantly reduced to 13 577MW of generation capacity” for the slight break from the monotonous drone of your next-door neighbour’s generator.

When we say a ‘slight’ break, we mean it. Load shedding has been suspended from 09:00 this morning ‘til close of business later today, at 16:00. Thereafter, we’ll return to normality with the return of Stage 3, which will run the show until 05:00 on the morning of Wednesday, 20 September. The state-owned power utility will release a more substantial update closer to Stage 3’s return later today.

This is one of the rare occasions in 2023 that Eskom’s been able to let its diesel-powered open-cycle gas turbines rest, with the EskomSePush (ESP) tracking 5,580 hours of load shedding (so far) for 2023.

(More) power to the Google TV

Most of the Google TV devices you’ll find get their chips from the same place – Amlogic. They power almost any of the devices from the Chromecast line-up, with the Chromecast with Google TV (4K) using an Amlogic S905X3. It’ll soon be two generations behind with the release of the S905X3, according to a new teaser for an Android TV box from SEI Robotics (via 9to5Google).

SEI Robotic’s new TV box probably won’t hit South African shelves, but that’s okay. It’s that S905X3 chip we’re more interested in, with the box’s other features being found in plenty of local options.

The biggest change involves the chipset’s manufacturing process, moving from the X4’s 12nm process to a more robust 6nm process. Usually, that would result in an improvement of battery life were it, say, a smartphone. It’ll still make for speedier navigation and theoretically allows for TV box manufacturers to cut down on space and pack the hardware into a much smaller shell. One of Stuff’s favourite TV boxes of the moment – Xiaomi’s 2nd-gen TV Box S – is already rocking a 95x95x16mm size, a relatively small stature in the world of TV boxes. That, but smaller? Sign us up.

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Even more Switch 2 news

It’s pretty much an open secret that Nintendo is developing a successor to the wildly successful Switch. For one, it’ll be celebrating its seventh birthday come March 2024 – the unspoken perfect lifetime for a flagship console. For another, it’s all but confirmed that Nintendo showed off the console behind closed doors at Gamescom, with a souped-up version of Breath of the Wild to exhibit the new console’s power.

Those reports didn’t do much in the way of specs, however. Now, according to internal emails from the FTC v Microsoft case (via The Verge), it appears as though Activision was briefed on a ‘Switch NG’ (Switch next-gen), revealing that it would have similar specs to that of a PS4 and Xbox One. The news was brought to light in the form of some heavily redacted email chains between Activision and Nintendo executives back in 2022, with Activision looking to secure early access to the console.

Specifically, Chris Schnakenberg – Activision’s head of platform strategy (that’s a job?) was involved in the emails, explaining that the Switch 2 is close to “Gen8 platforms in terms of performance…” and that Activision could “make something compelling”. It doesn’t take Batman to figure out what that “something compelling” might be after Microsoft and Nintendo signed a deal that would see Call of Duty come to the Switch for at least ten years.

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#POWERALERT1

Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday until further notice pic.twitter.com/S9rxax7fXD

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 4, 2023

Eskom, the state-owned power utility South Africans love to hate, has announced the return to Stage 6 load shedding. That’s indefinitely, too – in case your day wasn’t already bad enough. The reason? The usual excuse of urgent maintenance, in this case, on two additional generating units at Lethabo and Matla power stations. That’s on top of the generating units taken offline at Kriel and Medupi’s power stations on Sunday, which set the country on course for the return to Stage 6.

“Breakdowns are currently at 16,210MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,894MW,” says Eskom. Making up part of that 5,894MW of planned maintenance is the power utility’s delay in returning a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations, which is “contributing to the current capacity constraints.”

Stage 6’s return is only contributing to South Africa’s worst year for load shedding thus far. 2023 has so far seen 5,276 hours of load shedding – the equivalent of 220 days – completely dwarfing 2022’s 3,776 hours. For news on your area’s load-shedding schedule, you could visit Eskom’s website to check the latest times… but checking ESP is much easier.

No 4K for 2023’s Rugby World Cup

DStv has confirmed that it won’t be broadcasting the 2023 Rugby World Cup in 4K (UHD), and will stick with the standard HD feed, according to MyBroadband. MultiChoice first announced its intentions to broadcast the World Cup in 4K back in February, with the caveat being that the deal could still fall through with the necessary ‘upstream content providers’.

“Having explored the possibility of broadcasting the Rugby World Cup in 4K, SuperSport and DStv have, for a number of reasons, decided to remain with HD, with additional focus on streaming and mobile viewership,” says MultiChoice. “Customer viewing needs remain at the heart of the content we offer, and HD broadcasts, such as the coming Rugby World Cup, continue to offer sharp detail and exceptional resolution for fast-action sport,” it added.

So we’ll just have to make do with DStv’s capped 1080i resolution for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, kicking off on Friday, 8 September at 21:15. The Boks’ first game is on Sunday against Scotland at 17:15.

Until then, you can satiate the 4K-shaped hole in your heart by checking out RugbyPassTV, the world’s first
free dedicated rugby streaming service, filled with highlights from previous World Cups.

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Major price hike expected for the iPhone 15 Pro lineup

We’re exactly a week away from Apple’s ‘Wanderlust’ event, which is where we’ll get our first look at the slate of new iPhones, and probably even a new watch or two. While we’ve already got a rough idea of what features the iPhone 15 line-up might sport, pricing (obviously) hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.

The rumour mill hasn’t left us high and dry, though. It’s expected that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will maintain their usual prices of $800 and $900 respectively – totalling around R20,000 and R24,000 in South African money. The Pro line-up, however, is a different story. Thanks to the new titanium chassis and periscope camera – prices could shoot up by $100 for both the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

That could mean we’re looking at a $1,100 starting price for the iPhone 15 Pro and a $1,200 price for the Pro Max. What that’d look like on South Africa’s shelves – we can’t be sure. We do know it won’t be pretty, considering the 14 Pro and Pro Max’s starting prices of R25,700 and R28,400 in 2022.

This is all according to DigiTimes (via Macrumors). It lines up with what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said back in July, predicting the Pro line-up’s price hike. Another Apple analyst, Jeff Pu (via Macrumors), shared the same sentiment, confirming that all the signs are pointing to a Pro line-up price hike. Great.

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Meta and LG team up to take on Apple

Meta’s been a longtime player in the VR space, after acquiring Oculus back in 2014. Despite Zuckerberg’s apparent misunderstandings of what makes VR fun, the half-lizard half-man is reportedly working with LG behind the scenes to create a VR headset that’s actually good and produce some competition to Apple’s AR efforts, the Vision Pro.

This won’t result in some radical new VR headset, though. The report, shared by a Korean news outlet, Maeil Business Newspaper (via UploadVR), reckons the team-up would amount to new versions of the Quest Pro headsets. At first, it was believed that Meta was only working with LG’s subsidiary display supplier for the new headsets, but the partnership has since turned into a “much broader partnership” with more of LG’s other subsidiaries.

It’s believed that LG Electronics will handle the new headset’s assembly, with LG Energy being responsible for the batteries. LG Display, of course, would supply the micro-OLED displays that sit inside the device. Not much else is known of the headset’s potential specs, though Meta is expected to debut the product sometime in 2025, with a $2,000 price tag attached – a direct attack on Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro.

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“In addition to adding capacity to the nation’s power grid, this agreement – a Vodacom innovation which has been co-developed with Eskom – will also play a significant role in moving Vodacom closer to its goal of sourcing 100% of its electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2025,” Vodacom said.

It will not only “help accelerate efforts to solve the country’s energy crisis” but will also allow Vodacom to secure Independent Power Producers (IPPs) under the same terms and conditions as it does with Eskom.

“Vodacom’s partnership with Eskom is transformational in that our virtual wheeling solution will enable South Africa’s private sector to participate in resolving the energy crisis which continues to impact the country’s economy,” said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

Vodacom and Eskom sitting in a tree

It also provides a “blueprint for other South African corporates to adopt, as we pool our collective resources with the common objective of bringing an end to load shedding”.

Describing the energy crisis as “devastating for many businesses,” Vodacom says it has spent over R4 billion on backup power solutions and R300 million in the past financial year alone on diesel for generators. Not only is this a massive financial burden, but it also poses a significant challenge for the company to achieve its broader environmental ambitions, it says.

“Traditional wheeling typically involves a one-to-one relationship between an IPP and a buyer using the national grid to convey their energy. While the concept of traditional wheeling is a fairly common practice globally, it has certain limitations for companies with complex operating environments.”

Read More: Eskom and South Africa’s energy crisis: De Ruyter book strikes a chord but falls flat on economic fixes

Vodacom has over 15,000 distributed low-voltage sites across the country that are linked to 168 municipalities. This complexity has prevented it from accessing large-scale renewable energy from IPPs, which the virtual wheeling solution solves.

“Converting our existing fossil-fuel-based electricity supplies directly with on-site renewables is limited by technical constraints that are difficult to scale. We explored a traditional wheeling option, but this had numerous limitations, which we believed could be overcome by reimagining the problem and using technology to solve the issue,” said Joosub.

“Vodacom had four objectives when we approached Eskom with this solution: one to remove complexity, two to use technology to solve legacy limitations, three to access renewable energy with a sound business case and lastly, encouraging private participation to help solve the energy crisis,” he added.

Vodacom South Africa CEO Sitho Mdlalose said this initial phase will move approximately 30% of its power demand onto renewable sources, a big step towards the company’s 2025 renewable energy ambitions.

“Think of it like purchasing renewable energy certificates,” he said. “But most importantly, it also has the added benefit of positively impacting the supply deficit currently being experienced and nurturing the growth of renewable energy production in South Africa.”

Whether that’s a good thing or not (honestly, SA’s going to be right up there in terms of survivability in the event of a Carrington Event repeat) is up to you. But while there’s a serious need for lights and internet access and the ability to charge mobile devices, it’s best to keep some sort of battery backup around. The Romoss Thunder RS 1000 is a well-rounded option to do just that.

Industrial

The RS 1000 power station looks like it belongs on a construction site. As with the many, many competitors on the market, it’s a rectangular cube dominated by a faceplate set with a range of input and output ports. This Romoss unit crams in more than most. We’ll get to all of those once we’ve dealt with the outer casing, which offers a ruggedised look that suits the back of a bakkie, next to a couple of scarred toolboxes. But few South Africans use these batteries that way. It also looks like it’ll survive the rigours of a typical SA home as a result.

This industrial impression is carried on by the covers concealing most of the ports. There are two Type D (three-prong) plugs, which is unusual for a battery this size, as well as a full set of USB-A and a lone USB-C to fiddle with. Keeping a couple of small appliances or most of your electronics running at once is an option. If you have any 12V camping gear, that’ll operate just fine too, provided you stick below its rated output of 1,000W.

Numbers game

The Romoss Thunder RS 1000’s title refers to the rated output power of 1,000W. It’s got a peak output capability of 2,000W, so you should be able to run something with a fair startup power requirement, but the battery isn’t going to hold up for much longer than an hour if you’re running it at the limit. Actually, since there’s a 933Wh ternary (three-component — LiFePo4, as far as we can tell) battery, it’s not going to clear the 60-minute mark with a 1,000W power draw. But if you’re reasonable with your demands, it’ll keep something (or a bunch of them) running for an entire load shedding session.

And it’ll do so mostly quietly. Some of the noise comes from very intermittent cooling fans while in use but the majority will occur while charging the unit. There are options here — mains, solar, and even via a car socket — but connecting to your plug when the ‘shed has fled is the best option. The battery tops up in short order so you’re ready to go for another round against the Eskom blackout machine. The mains charge speed is up to 150W, giving you a full battery in, at most, a couple of hours.

Other stuff

For some reason, Romoss couldn’t stop adding features. Features we were aware of but couldn’t be bothered to use, for the most part, but they’re there. There’s an LED set into one side of the RS 1000, which further reinforces that ‘industrial equipment’ impression, which is marginally useful and there’s also a wireless charging pad built into the top of the battery. There’s a convenience to it, we suppose, and if you were on a building site or on a camping trip, it might make sense to stash a smartphone there. But if you’re being load shed, you’re probably holding your smartphone for something to do while the lights are out and there are all these bored people about.

The one thing we couldn’t effectively test was the RS 1000’s extended battery life. It lasts through an entire two-and-a-half hour load shedding with space to spare when we’re draining a pretty steady 300-watts from it but the fact that it’s rated for about 800 discharge cycles means we have to take Romoss’ word for it when it comes to longevity. Nothing about the build suggests we’d be making a mistake in doing so, so we’d be happy to give this one a recommendation.

Romoss Thunder RS 1000 verdict

Every South African home needs at least one form of battery backup. Whether it’s a 20,000mAh block for keeping phones charged or something more extravagant like the Ecoflow Delta 2, your options are dictated mainly by budget. The Romoss Thunder RS 1000 has a recommended retail price of R14,000, which is about the right place for a battery like this, but depending on where you look, you can pick one up for between R10,000 and R11,500.

The lower the price gets, the more attractive this unit looks, but you don’t really need to worry about paying full price either. It’ll prove its worth immediately. Time will tell if it has the legs to keep you happy till it’s time for a replacement but we strongly suspect that’s an affirmative.