“Energy economy environment models such as TIMES are often used to look at opportunities and costs of reducing
greenhouse gases (GHG’s). The South African TIMES model (SATIM) has been developed for this purpose and its methodology is documented online. This document presents an overview of the SATIM electricity supply
sector methodology and may be of interest to researchers grappling with practical ways of integrating solar, wind and other emergent technologies into their models. The electricity supply sector is a critical consideration in any climate change mitigation study given the cross-sectoral reliance of energy services on electricity
and the likely growth of technologies, like electric cars that use electricity. Even countries that possess abundant hydropower face the prospect that when the capacity
of this clean power source is reached or its reliability is undermined by climate change, the demands of the energy sector have the potential to cause large increases in
emissions. The SATIM methodology for the electricity supply sector has been shaped by concerns around the sector’s carbon intensity in South Africa and the large
amount of local data available.”
