IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v38y2010i9p4945-4954.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Renewable energy in South Africa: Potentials, barriers and options for support

Author

Listed:
  • Pegels, Anna

Abstract

The challenge of transforming entire economies is enormous; even more so if a country is as fossil fuel based and emission intensive as South Africa. However, in an increasingly carbon constrained world and already now facing climate change impacts South Africa has to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity soon and decidedly. The South African electricity sector is a vital part of the economy and at the same time contributes most to the emissions problem. First steps have been taken by the South African government to enhance energy efficiency and promote renewable energy, however, they fail to show large-scale effects. This paper seeks to identify the relevant barriers to renewable energy investments and, based on experience from other countries, provide policy recommendations. The major barrier identified in the paper is based on the economics of renewable energy technologies, i.e. their cost and risk structures, two main factors in investment planning. As a solution, the South African government introduced several renewable energy support measures, such as a feed-in tariff. The paper discusses the potential and possible shortcomings of this and other existing support schemes and identifies complementing measures on a national scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Pegels, Anna, 2010. "Renewable energy in South Africa: Potentials, barriers and options for support," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4945-4954, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:9:p:4945-4954
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(10)00267-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spalding-Fecher, Randall & Matibe, David Khorommbi, 2003. "Electricity and externalities in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 721-734, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salmon, Claire & Tanguy, Jeremy, 2016. "Rural Electrification and Household Labor Supply: Evidence from Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 48-68.
    2. Bohlmann, Jessika & Bohlmann, Heinrich & Inglesi-Lotz, Roula & van Heerden, Jan, 2016. "An economy-wide evaluation of new power generation in South Africa: The case of Medupi and Kusile," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 450-460.
    3. Torero, Maximo, 2014. "The Impact of Rural Electrification," MPRA Paper 61425, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Jintao Lu & Chong Zhang & Licheng Ren & Mengshang Liang & Wadim Strielkowski & Justas Streimikis, 2020. "Evolution of External Health Costs of Electricity Generation in the Baltic States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-22, July.
    5. Mojtaba Jorli & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Sadeghi & Alireza Nasseri & Lotfali Agheli, 2017. "Estimating Human Health Impacts and Costs Due to Iranian Fossil Fuel Power Plant Emissions through the Impact Pathway Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-29, December.
    6. W H Boshoff, 2012. "Gasoline, Diesel Fuel And Jet Fuel Demand In South Africa," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 43-78, April.
    7. Fahlén, E. & Ahlgren, E.O., 2010. "Accounting for external costs in a study of a Swedish district-heating system - An assessment of environmental policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4909-4920, September.
    8. Jessica A. Bohlmann & Heinrich R. Bohlmann & Roula Inglesi-Lotz, 2015. "An Economy-Wide Evaluation of New Power Generation in South Africa: The Case of Kusile and Medupi," Working Papers 201540, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    9. Musango, Josephine K. & Brent, Alan C., 2011. "Assessing the sustainability of energy technological systems in Southern Africa: A review and way forward," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 145-155.
    10. Madubansi, M. & Shackleton, C.M., 2006. "Changing energy profiles and consumption patterns following electrification in five rural villages, South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 4081-4092, December.
    11. Thuli Mdluli & Coleen Vogel, 2010. "Challenges to achieving a successful transition to a low carbon economy in South Africa: examples from poor urban communities," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 205-222, March.
    12. Kim, Dong Wook & Chang, Hyun Joon, 2012. "Experience curve analysis on South Korean nuclear technology and comparative analysis with South Korean renewable technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 361-373.
    13. Sheen, J.N., 2006. "Incentive pricing and economic profitability of load management program," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 2193-2209.
    14. Selim Karkour & Yuki Ichisugi & Amila Abeynayaka & Norihiro Itsubo, 2020. "External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-35, March.
    15. Bohlmann, Jessika Andreina & Inglesi-Lotz, Roula, 2018. "Analysing the South African residential sector's energy profile," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 240-252.
    16. Trotter, Philipp A. & McManus, Marcelle C. & Maconachie, Roy, 2017. "Electricity planning and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1189-1209.
    17. Maximiliane SIEVERT & Jorg PETERS, 2017. "The Impact of Rural Electrification Challenges and Ways Forward," Working Paper 2f9349f5-6cb3-424d-9bc2-a, Agence française de développement.
    18. Mojtaba Jorli & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Sadeghi Saghdel, 2018. "External costs from fossil electricity generation: A review of the applied impact pathway approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(5), pages 635-648, August.
    19. Thiam, Djiby-Racine, 2010. "Renewable decentralized in developing countries: Appraisal from microgrids project in Senegal," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1615-1623.
    20. Harris, Tom & Collinson, Mark & Wittenberg, Martin, 2017. "Aiming for a Moving Target: The Dynamics of Household Electricity Connections in a Developing Context," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 14-26.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:9:p:4945-4954. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.
    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy