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Africa Energy Awards 2011

In March 2011, Bettalights, were nominated as one of the top 3 finalists in the following 2 out of 10 categories for the prestigious Africa Energy Awards alongside the Power and Electricity World Africa Congress 2011 which was hosted by Terrapinn Limited South Africa.

Africa’s Leading Energy Personality

  • Someone whose role has advanced, and expanded access to power and energy in Africa
  • Promotes the use of innovative approaches
  • An individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the African power industry

Best Clean Technology Solution Provider

  • A project / technology that has been effectively implemented and assists in meeting the basic energy needs in the area
  • Successfully overcoming identified barriers
  • Innovation in technology that was used within the project / product development

– Download PDF here

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1st billboard system installed in Nigeria by APS SOLAR and partners

APS SOLAR, accredited distributor of Betta Lights and its Nigerian partners successfully installed its 1st bill board solar lighting systems in Lagos.

The system make use of the Betta144 solar security lights building blocks with the existing bracket solution that is easy to install and to maintain.

The benefits of the solar lighting system for off grid installations are pretty obvious for the simple reason that once the solar lighting solution has been installed the bill board supplier will no longer have to install or maintain diesel generators, manage the logistics of diesel supply or reimburse security guards to protect these diesel generators on site.

To make the solution durable for the specific climate in Lagos, we manufactured the bracket solution of stainless steel then E-coat and powder coat it thereafter.

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In September 2010, Betta Lights officially released the long awaited. cost effective single and double solar LED lighting solutions:

Betta Lights designed and developed the BettaOne and BettaTwo solar lighting solutions for the informal housing market as well as camping environments.

Key Benefits:
The product's key benefits are that it is affordable, reliable, bright, solar powered solution that uses LED lights to light up either a single or double room environment. The product come standard with a cell phone charger with various popular cell phone connectors. The 1 Watt LED light generates light equal to that of a 7 Watt CFL light or 60 Watt traditional electricity light. A single light illuminates a 15sqm room, with a measured 15lux brightness, meaning that you will be able to read in the room. The product is a "Do It Yourself" kit with all fasteners included. It also come standard with color code cables and inputs on the controller for easy installation.

Key technical features:
The BettaOne and BettaTwo is capable to store enough power to run the LED light continuously for more than 12 hours per night. The solution can be fully recharged within 2.2 full sunlight hours. Both the products come standard with the Lead Crystal battery technology that has a shelf life of up to 2 years, recharge 5 x faster than other batteries and can handle excessive heat of up to +65 degrees C.

Retail ready:
These two products are retail ready and get shipped fully packaged with installation manuals as well as fastener kits.

We believe that this product will help our energy poor remote areas to have access to cost effective lighting solutions via our major retailer footprint.

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APS SOLAR won the T-SHOW's best exhibitor award

Betta Lights management would like to congratulate our South African distributor APS SOLAR by winning the "Best Green Exhibitor" as well as "Overall Winner" of all 530 exhibitors at the most recent T-SHOW held in Pretoria, during August and September 2010. This is an amazing achievement if one considers that major corporates and government departments also took part in the competition. Well done to Jan Visser, MD of APS SOLAR and his sales and support team that made the above achievement possible, as well as for all their efforts to create awareness with regard to alternative energy to thousands of local citizens

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First successful Botswana solar industrial security lighting solution installed with Betta144 systems:

Early in September 2010, one of APS SOLAR's accredited resellers in Botswana successfully installed Betta144 solar lighting systems for a customers perimeter fencing security requirements. The solution includes 2 x 9.6watt LED lights per pole, with the latest lead crystal battery technology and a 65watt solar panel. By making use of the lead crystal battery technology, the customer can have peace of mind when temperatures in Botswana reach +40 degrees C, due to the unique characteristic's of the technology.

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Betta Lights (Pty)Ltd donated a betta.Life.Light solar lighting solution to Simphiwe's Family

The Betta.Life.Light will enable Simphiwe to study at night and to successfully complete his final school exams.

In mid-October David O'Sullivan of Talk Radio 702 interviewed a young matriculant, Simphiwe Lila who was about to embark on his final exams at Orlando High School, aiming for three distinctions. The problem was that Simphiwe lived in a shack with his mother and three siblings. Space was a problem, but the lack of electricity was an even bigger problem. Simphiwe was studying at a community hall until 3am, where he had access to electricity.

The call touched Mike Addinall from Betta Lights. He called in to the radio station and offered some assistance to Simphiwe, in the form of some solar lights for his rudimentary home. On Saturday 31 October, Mike went to Simphiwe’s home in Kliptown to personally install the system. Mike also spoke to students at a Saturday School Academy run by the Teboho Trust, educating them about the importance of solar energy and sharing his innovative ideas.

APS (Accredited Property Solutions) a business partner of Betta Lights also sponsored a Betta.Room.Light to the value of R2000 to Simphiwe and his family.

     
Mike and Simphiwe   Mike explains alternative power
technology to the kids 		   

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Ises Solar World Congress 2009:

Ises Solar World Congress 2009 Sandton Convention Centre, South Africa:

Betta Lights displayed its range of solar lighting products on the ISES SOLAR WORLD CONGRESS 2009 that was held in Sandton South Africa from 11 October till 14 October 2009.

The congress was attended by people from more than 70 different countries.

Betta Lights launched their new solar street light range as well as the new lead crystal battery technology and a cost effective solar inverter that can power applications such as a TV, HI-FI and sewing machines.

   
BETTA LIGHTS STREET LIGHT   BETTA LIGHTS STREET LIGHT   BETTA LIGHTS STREET LIGHT
 
From Left to Right:
Mr.Li Fei, Mr. James Zou,
Jacques-Pierre Addinall, Michael Addinall,
Mr. Du Ping, Ms. Sun Li
BETTA LIGHTS INVERTER  

 

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702 Small Business Awards:



In the photo from left to right:
John Robbie (702), Baard Botha (Bettalights), Steve Cohen (Sofline Pastel), Juanita van der Westhuizen (Bettalights), David O’Sullivan (702)

Betta Lights has been nominated for the 702 Small Business Awards and has been selected as one of the 30 finalists. Marius Botes ,one of the directors of Betta Lights, explained live on air via the John Robbie 702 Talk Show on 25 August 2009 to their listeners the development and functionality of the Betta.Life.Light, as well as how the solar light solution can uplift the poorest of the poor people in rural communities.

Listen to Radio 702 Betta Lights With John Robby 26Aug09.mp3

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4th Asia Solar Photovoltaic Exhibition 2009

   
BETTA LIGHTS SOLAR PRODUCTS   MIKE AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE SHANGHAI SOLAR EXPO   MIKE AND CHINA PARTENER
   
   

Betta Lights (Pty)Ltd was the only African exhibitor at the 4th Asia Solar Photovoltaic Exhibition 2009 held in Shanghai China from 6 May 2009 till 8 May 2009.

Approximately 21,000 professional visitors from all over the world attended the exhibition and more than 1,500 companies participated in the conference and show.

The organizers of this massive solar show are:

  • China New Energy Chamber of Commerce
  • National Solar PV Energy Technology Committee Association
  • Tianjin Institute of Power Sources
  • CCPIT Pudong Sub-Council
  • Shanghai Aiexpo Exhibition Service Co., Ltd
  • And Co-organizers:
    Green Power Conferences
    German-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Industry
    TÜV SÜD China

The Asia Solar PV Exhibition attracted many companies from more than 20 countries and regions, such as Germany, France, Switzerland, the United States, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, China Taiwan, and so on.

Betta Lights displayed our ‘Betta.Life.Light” designed for small houses and the industrial security solar light “Betta.144” with great success and extreme interest.

Mr Michael Addinall of Betta Lights, who lead our team at the Shanghai exhibition, experienced that solar technologies have grown rapidly and that the solar power source can be taken seriously as a player not only in remote environments but also in on-grid electricity situations.

An notable fact that whilst vast solar technology advances have been made , it was alarming that at the entire exhibition only 2 companies put forward ‘ Practical solar Solutions”, of which Betta Light Pty was one.

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Hammanskraal donation:



Betta Lights donated a Betta.Life.Light solar light solution to the Tshwane Council for installation in Hammanskraal just outside of Pretoria. The unit was installed in a house for one of the poorest and oldest members of the community. The Council donated a house to the lady, which DESTO build with their builders in training. BUILDit supplied the building material at zero cost and Betta Lights supplied the solar lights as a donation. Mr Willie Mashlanga of the Tshwane Council handed the keys of the new house to the new owner in December 2008. The photograph shows excited community members watching the handover of the keys.

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Central Energy Fund endorsement:



The South African Central Energy Fund, part of the Department of Mineral and Energy endorsed products developed and manufactured by Betta Lights (Pty)Ltd early in 2009.

When innovative renewable energy solutions are submitted to the Central Energy Fund, the Central Energy Fund may endorse such companies.

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South African Police Services “Proof of Concept” for Boschkop Police Station:

South African Police Services acknowledged the potential of solar lights as emergency lighting at their police stations due to the fact that the electricity grid is not stable enough to render a professional service to their community. Betta Lights were requested by the South African Police Services to install a solar light solution at the Boschkop police station in the east of Pretoria, as a proof of concept to evaluate solar power for emergency lighting.

The project consists of the following building blocks and minimum expectations:

  • Prison cell lights that should supply efficient lighting in prison cells, should not be physically destroyable by inmates, should not be used to hurt any inmates and be able to switch on/off automatically at dusk and dawn. If needed, the solar prison cell lights should be used as the main lighting solution for prison cells.

  • Internal solar lights are used when the main electricity grid fails. These lights should illuminate areas such as the charge office, public toilets, radio room, holding cells, weapons safe, document store and trauma centers.

  • External solar security lights supply efficient terrain illumination for parking areas, office entrance, walk ways, police vehicle parking, dark external areas and fencing. The solution should also be hardened against pilferage of the system elements and withstands environmental elements like hail, wind, temperature fluctuations and corrosion.

The project kicked off early in February 2009, and all tests were completed by end of March 2009. All products were successfully tested by SAPS engineers for meeting all their requirements. The tests were so successful that Boschkop is using the external solar security lights as the main source if external illumination.

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