Governments Policies, Strategies, and Action Plans Promoting Renewable Energy in South Africa

Governments Policies, Strategies, and Action Plans Promoting Renewable Energy in South Africa

Energy is an important part of the economic and social development of South Africa. Production, transportation, and use of energy contribute significantly to pollution, global environmental problems, and drastic climate changes. Providing adequate, affordable, and reliable energy to the entire population has been a challenge for the South African government. The current energy systems are harming the environment, and therefore it is high time to move towards an eco-friendly approach of providing energy to the citizens.

The negative effect on the economic, social, and environmental factors due to energy production and consumption needs to be reduced. This can be made possible by making investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. In South Africa, renewable energy contributes quite less to primary energy production. The contribution to commercial energy needs is also less.

What is the potential for renewable electricity?

Research reveals that the potential for renewable energy is huge in South Africa. However, this potential is only theoretical. The sources may be ample, but the problem lies in converting the available renewable energy into commercially exploitable forms of thermal or electrical energy. This problem is a big one to tackle. For instance, when we talk of solar energy, the economic, technological, and market potential for capturing the heat and converting it into a useful form is far less than the estimates made theoretically.

Therefore, South Africa requires efficient policies, strategies, and action plans for maximum utilization of the available sources.

Renewable energy forms 

South Africa’s Renewable energy policies identify the following types of renewable energy sources that can be exploited for the betterment of the cities and town:

• Solar energy: this is said to be the most abundant renewable energy forms that South Africa has. Solar power has tremendous potential when it comes to the sustainable development of the country. Currently, solar energy contributes to 10% of the primary energy that is used in the country.
• Biomass: This is another huge source of power generation. It contributes to 10% of national energy use and 60% for the household consumptions of electricity.
• Hydropower: the potential is huge for hydropower too. But currently, it makes up less than 1% of the total energy being used in the country.
• Biogas: the thermal energy needs are mostly taken care of by this form of renewable energy
• Wind energy: this is still under experimentation. Wind farms have been set up in a few locations to charge small power batteries or large farms operations.

South African Policy on Renewable Energy

White Paper on Energy Policy is the official government document of South Africa that has all the energy policies that the country has set, and it was introduced in 1998. The goal behind this White Paper is to diversify the energy supply and carriers so that energy security is established in the nation.

The country now has a planning principle, which is to ensure that a substantial amount of the national resources is invested into technologies for converting renewable energy into a usable form. In this Renewable Energy White Paper, introduced in 2003, the goal, objective and policy which the country plans to achieve are:

“An energy economy where modern renewable energy sources form a major share of the energy being consumed and a country that provides access to energy throughout South Africa at an affordable rate, thus moving towards sustainable development and environmental conservation.”

At present, South Africa produces most of its energy from imported expensive fuels and coal. It has the largest carbon footprint in the entire continent of Africa. Around 40% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the continent are a contribution of South Africa. Emissions at this level have proved to be causing large scale damage to the environment. Under such circumstances, the country has pledged to reduce emissions by 34% by the year 2020 and another 42% by 2025. For achieving the goals, the country launched the Integrated Resource Plan in 2010.

What does IRP aim for? 

This plan has been designed primarily for the reduction in the rate of coal consumption for energy generation. The aim is to bring down the percentage of coal use from 90 to 42. Also, to increase the use of renewable energy sources by 15% of total energy by the year 2030.

The implementation, however, was not as easy as laying down the plan. Multiple challenges sprung up. Now to get over these hurdles, the country came up with the Renewable Energy Independent Power Project Procurement Program (REIPPPP).

The industry of renewable energy in South Africa is still not well developed and requires large capital to flourish. Hence, an effective and innovative approach is needed to replace the coal with sustainable sources and also to attract investors from the private sector. REIPPPP is this very approach that will fulfill the goals set by the policy. This program relies on the private sector investors for the realization of the projects on renewable energy instead of the South African government. This has significantly reduced the borrowing and funding burdens from the shoulders of the government.

Strategy for Promotion of Renewable Energy

The policy has identified a few strategic areas that need to be addressed for efficient, sustainable development:

• Technological development
• Legal instruments
• Financial instruments
• Education and awareness about the policy
• Market-based instruments
• Regulatory instruments

For each of these policies has been set out, and a strategic plan has been developed for the fulfillment of the goals and objectives of the policy.

The strategy is called Energy Efficient Strategy. The ultimate aim is to provide energy to every single household across the country by reducing consumption. The energy consumption can be rationalized by efficient practices and sustainable development. The target set up was to reduce the consumption of energy in the country by 12% by 2014.

This plan is also effective in reducing the harmful effects that traditional energy generation causes to human health and the environment.

Conclusion

South Africa is currently working towards the policies and strategies that were introduced in the White Paper of Renewable energy, and the projects are now having funding from different sources.