About us at Solar Juice

Our story…

We, Leon and Hannetjie Needham, bought a property in 2006 with the dream to build a guesthouse that is as self-sustainable as possible. Leon worked as a market forecaster in Stellenbosch and Hannetjie worked in GIS/IT at the City of Cape Town. All the plans for the guest house were drawn up with a special focus on self-sustainability especially since the town and surrounding area was well reserved, but life happened and as it took too long to realise this dream, Leon then started focusng on the sustainable aspect of the guesthouse plans as potential service to others and that is where the idea of installing solar systems started for us. 

In 2008 Leon Needham, started to realise this dream to help property owners make use of the sun’s amazing energy to power their houses and to heat water (geysers and swimming pools) for greater independence from the electricity network while helping to lower the pressure on Eskom as well. That was when Solar Juice was ‘born’. Hannetjie joined him a year later in 2009 and together they help home owners/small business owners on their journey towards more independence from the electricity network and load shedding. The property has been sold in the meantime for others to realise their own dreams.

While having a master’s degree in Economic Geography, Leon loved the challenge to study to make his new dream a reality.  He learned the tricks of the trade at a German solar company and followed that up with the following courses: Plumbing, Electrical; water heating and Photovoltaic (solar).

He is registered and accredited at:

Department of Labour (as an electrician)

PIRB (Plumbing Industry Regulation Board)

Leon loves being involved with every installation.  Quality and pride in his and his team’s work is of utmost importance to him as well as meeting the client’s expectations.