IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/eerjnl/v1y2011i1p124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Electricity Generation Technologies in South Africa: Initiatives, Challenges and Policy Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Josephine K. Musango
  • Bamikole Amigun
  • Alan C. Brent

Abstract

Energy in the form of electricity is of key importance for economic development. South Africa has historically relied primarily on coal for electricity generation, making the electricity sector one of the dominant greenhouse gas emitters. Renewable energy and technologies have the potential to provide solutions such as greenhouse gas emission reduction, diversification of the energy mix, and job creation through manufacturing and industry development. Although South Africa has one of the best resources for wind, solar and biomass, the current renewable energy utilization for electricity generation is less than 2 % of the total electricity generated. The last decade has subsequently been devoted to create renewable energy policies, incentives and plans in order to provide an enabling environment for renewable energy development. However, the deployment of renewable energy projects has (still) been slow. This study therefore provides an overview of the current status of policy and incentives that impact renewable electricity generation, the current renewable electricity generation initiatives, and challenges related to its development in South Africa. The policy implications and recommendations to support future development of renewable electricity generation include- establishing a single coordinating agency or authority; creating public awareness; providing financial support guarantees; and capacity building and skills development.

Suggested Citation

  • Josephine K. Musango & Bamikole Amigun & Alan C. Brent, 2011. "Sustainable Electricity Generation Technologies in South Africa: Initiatives, Challenges and Policy Implications," Energy and Environment Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 1(1), pages 124-124, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eerjnl:v:1:y:2011:i:1:p:124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/download/13977/9710
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/view/13977
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2009. "Electricity consumption and economic growth in South Africa: A trivariate causality test," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 635-640, September.
    2. Winkler, Harald, 2005. "Renewable energy policy in South Africa: policy options for renewable electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 27-38, January.
    3. Amigun, B. & Musango, J.K. & Brent, A.C., 2011. "Community perspectives on the introduction of biodiesel production in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2502-2508.
    4. Fluri, Thomas P., 2009. "The potential of concentrating solar power in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5075-5080, December.
    5. Sebitosi, A.B. & Pillay, P., 2008. "Grappling with a half-hearted policy: The case of renewable energy and the environment in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2513-2516, July.
    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. Du Plessis, Gideon Edgar & Liebenberg, Leon & Mathews, Edward Henry, 2013. "The use of variable speed drives for cost-effective energy savings in South African mine cooling systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 16-27.
    2. PHIRI Andrew & NYONI Bothwell, 2016. "Re-Visting The Electricity-Growth Nexus In South Africa," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 97-111, April.
    3. Büscher, Bram, 2009. "Connecting political economies of energy in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3951-3958, October.
    4. Naidoo, A., 2020. "The socio-economic impacts of solar water heaters compared across two communities: A case study of Cato Manor," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "Energy consumption, pollutant emissions and economic growth in South Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1374-1382, November.
    6. Morgan Bazilian & Patrick Nussbaumer & Hans-Holger Rogner & Abeeku Brew-Hammond & Vivien Foster & Shonali Pachauri & Eric Williams & Mark Howells & Philippe Niyongabo & Lawrence Musaba & Brian Ó Galla, 2011. "Energy Access Scenarios to 2030 for the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2011.68, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Bothwell Nyoni & Andrew Phiri, 2018. "The Electricity-growth Nexus in South Africa: Evidence from Asymmetric Cointegration and Co-feature Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 80-88.
    8. Villanthenkodath, Muhammed Ashiq & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2021. "Does economic growth respond to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh? The implication for environmental sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    9. Jean C. Kouam & Simplice Asongu, 2022. "The non-linear effects of fixed broadband on economic growth in Africa," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(5), pages 881-895, August.
    10. Al-mulali, Usama & Fereidouni, Hassan Gholipour & Lee, Janice Y.M., 2014. "Electricity consumption from renewable and non-renewable sources and economic growth: Evidence from Latin American countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 290-298.
    11. Omri, Anis, 2014. "An international literature survey on energy-economic growth nexus: Evidence from country-specific studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 951-959.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Economic Development Thresholds for a Green Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/010, African Governance and Development Institute..
    13. Patrick Mukumba & Shylet Y. Chivanga, 2023. "An Overview of Renewable Energy Technologies in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa and the Rural Households’ Energy Poverty Coping Strategies," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, March.
    14. Xu, Guangyue & Yang, Hualiu & Schwarz, Peter, 2022. "A strengthened relationship between electricity and economic growth in China: An empirical study with a structural equation model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    15. Finn, Thomas & McKenzie, Paul, 2020. "A high-resolution suitability index for solar farm location in complex landscapes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 520-533.
    16. Potgieter, Petrus H., 2010. "Water and energy in South Africa – managing scarcity," MPRA Paper 23360, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Ghassen El Montasser & Hassen Toumi, 2015. "Testing the Relationships between Energy Consumption, CO2 emissions and Economic Growth in 24 African Countries: a Panel ARDL Approach," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/037, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    18. Shahriyar Nasirov & Carlos Silva & Claudio A. Agostini, 2015. "Investors’ Perspectives on Barriers to the Deployment of Renewable Energy Sources in Chile," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-21, April.
    19. Sheilla Nyasha & Yvonne Gwenhure & Nicholas M Odhiambo, 2018. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Ethiopia: A dynamic causal linkage," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(8), pages 1393-1412, December.
    20. Asongu, Simplice A & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2019. "Governance,CO2 emissions and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 25253, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ibn:eerjnl:v:1:y:2011:i:1:p:124. 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: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.