text: Even without government support or interest, there is still plenty of room to grow the new energy economy. There's plenty of space for companies to grow and expand into energy efficiency, storage, and production for business and homeowner clients. Fleet vehicles would be an obvious place to start with EVs, and there are already companies in SA that do EV conversions on a small scale. Globally, the bulk of solar installers are small companies. Biggest cost of business is customer aquisition, so they need more than a website. Without net metering policies, the most likely solar customers are businesses looking to cut their electricity bill during office hours. Cold chain is another area where existing technologies (thermal ice storage) can get a quick ROI. I got really frustrated when I read about a company getting R11m from the IDC to do a *feasibility* study for flow batteries. Why not *build* the damn things? For R11m you could start prototyping, learn, and get some investors in.