A leader in engineering, procurement, and construction, Eversolar is addressing the evolving challenges of South Africa’s electricity supply with innovative solar and battery solutions. Johan Pienaar, CEO, elaborates on the company’s key operations across the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors.
SOLAR FOR EVERYONE
Established in 2019 in South Africa (SA), Eversolar was founded by a small, dedicated team who were passionate about helping the nation’s businesses take control of their energy future.
Upon the company’s inception, SA’s energy landscape was already under immense pressure, characterised by load shedding, rising electricity tariffs, and an overstretched grid accelerating a shift towards private energy generation.
Over the last decade, Eskom tariffs have escalated by more than 350 percent, placing enormous strain on commercial and agricultural businesses alike.
This environment has driven strong demand for reliable, cost-effective, and scalable renewable energy solutions.
“The sector has matured significantly – from early adopters experimenting with small rooftop systems to today’s landscape of utility-scale solar and battery projects.
“Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies like Eversolar now operate at far higher technical and financial capability, delivering full turnkey systems that integrate with clients’ operational and financial models,” opens Johan Pienaar, CEO.
Indeed, the company initially served small to medium-sized commercial and industrial (C&I) clients but soon grew into a leading EPC provider for large-scale solar and battery systems for the C&I, mining, and agricultural markets across SA and Southern Africa.
“Our growth has been entirely organic, built on referrals and reputation. We believe in ‘doing the right things right’ – a philosophy that underpins everything we do.
“Eversolar is not just an EPC; we are a long-term partner in each client’s energy transformation,” he expands.
As such, the company has a simple mission – to deliver reliable, high-quality renewable energy solutions that enable businesses to thrive in an unpredictable energy environment.
“Every project we deliver aims to reduce cost, improve energy independence, and enhance long-term sustainability for our clients,” Pienaar states.
A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED APPROACH
Eversolar offers a strong portfolio in solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), differentiated by its experience across multiple projects with unmatched in-house engineering capabilities.
“We design, simulate, commission, and operate every system ourselves, ensuring seamless integration, remote monitoring, and proactive maintenance.
“Even after commissioning, our support team continuously optimises system performance through data analytics and field inspections, safeguarding our clients’ return on investment,” Pienaar confirms.
With this in mind, Eversolar’s excellence in project development and execution sets it apart as it delivers holistic, end-to-end energy strategies.
From technical feasibility to commercial structuring, the company is able to design, structure, finance, and deliver turnkey systems that truly work for the client.
“This integrated approach allows businesses to benefit from renewable energy without large upfront costs – a major advantage in today’s economy,” Pienaar urges.
Furthermore, because Eversolar deeply understands both the engineering and financial dimensions of energy, the company is often trusted to structure fully-funded off-balance sheet solutions such as power purchase agreements (PPAs) and rental models.
PPAs in particular are tailored for businesses seeking predictable energy costs and a reduced reliance on Eskom. Under the agreement, clients only pay for the energy they consume, typically at a rate far lower than the utility tariff, whilst Eversolar takes care of system financing, operation, and maintenance.
“This model is particularly effective for mining and agricultural enterprises where energy costs directly affect competitiveness.
“By stabilising electricity expenses and eliminating capital barriers, Eversolar enables clients to focus on their core operations whilst enjoying clean, reliable energy,” Pienaar details.
“Our growth has been entirely organic, built on referrals and reputation. We believe in ‘doing the right things right’ – a philosophy that underpins everything we do”
Johan Pienaar, CEO, Eversolar
PIONEERING AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS
Compared to other industries, the agricultural sector is facing significant hardship due to rising Eskom costs and unreliable energy supply. In fact, many farms are now spending millions annually on electricity, with tariff escalations far exceeding inflation.
Amongst these challenges, the company has become a trusted partner to this sector by delivering large-scale solar and BESS that directly address such industry difficulties.
“Eversolar’s experience in commercial solar has uniquely positioned us to serve agriculture – an industry that demands reliability, flexibility, and technical precision.
“From irrigation to cold storage, our engineers design each system to match specific load profiles and optimise uptime,” Pienaar points out.
Indeed, the company’s solar-plus-storage systems help farmers maintain uninterrupted operations and hedge against any tariff shocks, enabling them to reduce their reliance on Eskom and displace high daytime energy costs through solar energy.
BESS, meanwhile, allows farmers to shift consumption away from peak times, maximise solar utilisation, and stabilise their energy supply, often resulting in energy cost reductions of 50 to 90 percent.
The battery systems can also be utilised for optimum energy arbitrage, which involves charging with solar during off-peak hours, whilst discharging during peak demand periods to ensure lower costs.
Eversolar also helps to rationalise agricultural supply points by creating internal networks fed from central solar and storage hubs, ultimately reducing fixed-line charges.
The company’s projects additionally enable farmers to shift high-load activities like irrigation and water pumping into daylight hours for additional savings, as well as enabling business expansion by providing energy systems for additional grid capacity in areas where Eskom is unable to.
This holistic approach has allowed many farms to regain control of their cost base, secure operational continuity, and reinvest savings back into production and growth.
“For agribusinesses considering the shift to renewables, our advice is to view energy as a strategic investment, not just an expense.
“Partnering with a company like Eversolar means having a technically capable, financially sound, and values-driven team walking the journey with you – from concept to long-term success,” Pienaar advises.
RELIABLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE RESULTS
A recent demonstration of Eversolar’s key support for agribusinesses is the company’s work with a leading potato producer who faced mounting challenges from rising energy costs, frequent power disruptions, and Eskom’s increasing tariffs, all of which directly affected irrigation and packaging operations that were essential to productivity.
Eversolar subsequently implemented a fully-integrated hybrid energy system that combined 1.11-megawatt peak (MWp) of solar PV, 1.275 megawatts (MW) of backup generation, and 2.18 megawatt hours (MWh) of battery energy storage.
The system reduces reliance on Eskom by displacing grid consumption with solar energy and leveraging battery energy arbitrage to replace costly peak-hour power with stored solar and off-peak energy.
To further enhance efficiency, the company also restructured the farm’s internal electrical network, consolidating multiple Eskom supply points into a single, central hub, thus significantly lowering fixed-line costs and simplifying energy load management.
“Once load management is fully implemented, the system has the potential to supply up to 60 percent of the farm’s total energy demand through renewables, marking a substantial step towards long-term energy independence,” Pienaar explains.
The modular design additionally allows for seamless future upgrades as the business expands. Moreover, by approaching the Eskom small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) process strategically, Eversolar enabled the farmer to gain faster access to renewable power through an alternative connection pathway that shortened approval times.
“The result is a resilient, cost-effective, and future-ready energy platform that underpins the operation’s ongoing sustainability and growth ambitions,” he adds.
INNOVATION AND ENERGY AUTONOMY
Eversolar has similarly transformed the operations of a prominent citrus producer in SA that faced a complex energy challenge.
The client had already invested in a renewable energy system, but Eskom’s SSEG regulations limited operations to just 25 percent of designed capacity due to network restrictions.
The public utility also required costly network upgrades before approving any increase in grid capacity, effectively constraining both production potential and future agricultural expansion.
Therefore, Eversolar expertly engineered an alternative hybrid energy solution that unlocked the site’s full potential without relying on grid expansion.
The new system – featuring 1.61 MWp of solar PV, 1.6 MW of back up generation, and 2.288 MWh of battery storage – enables the farm to operate efficiently whilst remaining fully compliant with regulatory requirements.
“Through a reconfigured internal distribution network, Eversolar optimised power flows, reduced fixed supply costs, and maximised renewable energy utilisation,” Pienaar affirms.
As a result, the new system now displaces approximately 90 percent of the farm’s peak tariff-period energy and around 70 percent of total demand, delivering dramatic cost reductions and improved energy stability.
The hybrid energy system’s modular, private microgrid design additionally allows farmers to expand their own energy network to power future agricultural developments – an opportunity that was previously impossible under Eskom’s grid capacity constraints.
By once again helping the client to navigate the SSEG process through an alternative technical and regulatory pathway, Eversolar assisted the farmer in gaining access to cleaner, cheaper power far sooner than traditional grid connection processes would have allowed.
“This project stands as a benchmark for innovation and energy autonomy in the agricultural sector, showcasing how the company’s engineering excellence and creative problem-solving enables farmers to achieve real independence, resilience, and growth – despite SA’s regulatory and infrastructure limitations.”
DIVERSIFYING AND SOLIDIFYING
Working to futureproof the business amidst SA’s everchanging energy landscape, Eversolar is focused on three priorities going forwards.
Firstly, the company is steadily diversifying into the mining sector, where large, energy-intensive operations require dependable and efficient solar-plus-storage systems – something Eversolar has become highly proficient in.
Elsewhere, as BESS technology enters the mainstream, it is integrating advanced storage for tariff optimisation and peak shaving.
Eversolar is also working to maintain its leadership in the agricultural sector by continuing to deliver innovative, cost-saving systems for farms and agriprocessing operations.
“We see significant growth in larger project sizes, where technical expertise and execution capacity are critical differentiators,” Pienaar concludes.
