“The report assesses the progress made on renewable energy deployment for the solar and wind technologies over the last 12 years in South Africa. First the report assesses the potential contribution solar water heaters (SWHs), concentrating solar power (CSP), large-scale photovoltaic (PV)farms and wind technology can bring to South Africa’s energy demand by 2030. It highlights
what the mid-term potential for each is by 2030 and compares this with the deployment of each over the past 12 years. From this a renewable energy policy effectiveness value is calculated based on the method developed in the Deploying Renewables Report (IEA, 2008a) and this is critically assessed.
Finally, the report assesses the factors involved in renewable energy deployment, or the lack thereof, in South Africa and discusses recent developments in the field. When assessing renewable energy policy in South Africa one has to take certain factors into consideration. For one, Eskom, as the state-owned electricity supplier, dominates the generation capacity. Furthermore, only about 70% of South African households are connected to the electricity supply grid, and overcoming energy poverty still remains a strategic development objective. South
Africa also has had a history of supplying cheap electricity due to an over-capacity expansion programme in the 1970s and ample cheap coal, amongst other reasons.”
