#MeettheWomeninEnergySeries: Delivering clean, affordable, safe and more convenient energy to unelectrified informal settlements through Solar Home Systems, meet Tuliswa Somta
Tuliswa Somta works with informal settlement communities in the Western Cape, South Africa who currently do not have access to grid electricity. Tuliswa is a Solar Home Systems (SHS) Installer and Maintainer at The iShack Project an organisation based in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The iShack Project (iShack) is a social enterprise that provides pay-for-use solar electricity service to people living in informal settlements in South Africa. Tuliswa joined The iShack Project in 2015 as a Trainee Agent which involved her providing training to new agents on how to install solar home systems.
Hi Tuliswa, thank you so much for agreeing to speak to me and sharing your journey in the energy sector.
Please tell us a little about yourself and your work at iShack.
I install, maintain SHS and train new agents joining the project.
For our readers that do not know your organisation, please introduce iShack and the projects you are currently working on.
iShack is an organisation that offers off-grid electricity to people living in an informal settlement. We are not Eskom and we are not the government, we just showing that there is an alternative for people to use while they are waiting for a good electricity grid. We have three informal settlements that we are working with — Enkanini and Longlands both in Stellenbosch, and Siqalo in Mitchells Plain. All these three sites are up and running, we maintain and install in these three sites. We are currently working with the City of Cape Town and GreenCape to provide SHS to a new site called Malawi Camp.
Of the work you have done, what have been some of your standout moments?
It was an exciting moment for me when Siqalo and Longlands received their SHS. I was there from the beginning and to see the joy in the community to finally have access to lights and TV for entertainment instead of candles and paraffin stands out to me.
Another memorable moment was the fridge pilot. We had fridge pilots with 10 clients that we were testing to see if fridges can work with our systems. That was a challenging and yet very interesting thing we had to do but unfortunately, that did not work as we would have hoped it would.
In South Africa, most people want grid electricity aka “Eskom electricity”, for communities that currently do not have access to Eskom electricity, what would you say to them about solar home systems?
Solar home system work and are much better than using candles and paraffin. It is something that we need to talk about more often so that people can know that whilst we are waiting for the electrical grid, they have a safer alternative that they can use.
Part of your job is to train new Installers and Solar Agents, do people get surprised that they are being trained by a woman and are you seeing more women being solar installers?
I will not lie it is not easy, but I love a good challenge. We train new installers and Solar Agents who happen to be people from the community and have seen us working and know that I am a woman and that I have been doing this for many years. This helps a lot in them willing to let me train them.
How is the COVID-19 impacting your work?
COVID-19 has sort of made things difficult for us to work. For one, on top of us having to be careful when we install the SHS, now we need to be more careful with all the health and safety procedures that we must follow. During the installation, this is the time when we get to know our clients in their home. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce to them the system and try to educate them one last time on the how it works before they use it. Now with COVID-19, we do less of that.
What are some of the obstacles that you encounter in your work and how have you overcome them?
· Clients trying to fix the system by themselves and end up damaging it. We try as much as we can to inform the clients to inform us of any problems that they have with the systems for us to fix it for them but sometimes clients do not listen.
· The other one is the client moving the system to a new location without informing us. That leads to not being able to find and maintain the system when needed.
For the benefit of government officials and policymakers in South Africa, can you tell them why we need off-grid solutions such as Solar Home Systems as part of the electrification plan?
SHS have helped three communities that we are working with who are happy with this interim service while they are waiting for grid electricity and this has resulted in other communities approaching us wanting to work with us. This means that people are starting to see that off-grid electricity is the best solution to go for when you are living in an informal settlement, where households might have to wait a decade or more before getting grid electricity and there is a high risk of shack fires due to the use of candles and paraffin for lighting.
Looking into the future, what do you still hope to achieve and what changes do you expect to see happen in the energy sector?
Helping more communities that do not have electricity have off-grid electricity while waiting for grid connections. Changes I would like to see is the government supporting off-grid electricity and knowing that it is an option to consider for people living in an informal settlement with no electricity.
Finally, what are key lessons have you learnt during your journey that you would like other women entering the field to know?
It is challenging but it is doable with the right attitude and energy.
The Meet the Women in Energy Series features women in the energy sector who are committed to transforming the energy space. This series seeks to inspire other women and to showcase the many talented women working in the sector ranging from entrepreneurs, experts, senior executives, middle managers to young professionals’ and new graduates.
Follow The iShack Project on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with their amazing work.
