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Struggling to wean a society away from a century-old legacy of coal based power: Challenges and possibilities for South African Electric supply future

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  • Tsikata, M.
  • Sebitosi, A.B.

Abstract

The challenges faced by the socio-political economy of South Africa when attempting to diversify away from a legacy of over a century of near exclusive dependence on cheap and abundant coal for its energy needs, particularly electricity, are discussed in this paper. Existing government policy documentation would appear to advocate for energy resource diversification. In addition the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) published renewable energy feed-in-tariffs (REFIT) for renewable energy generation (during the first quarter of 2009) which were billed by the media as well as a range of stakeholders as very promising. Notwithstanding these seemingly appropriate measures there is still a near total lack of real progress on the ground in terms of serious renewable energy (RE) investments. The authors subsequently attempt to make some recommendations as to what might have probable chance of success in terms of overcoming the barriers to the adoption of a more diversified energy resource environment, in particular renewable energy (RE).

Suggested Citation

  • Tsikata, M. & Sebitosi, A.B., 2010. "Struggling to wean a society away from a century-old legacy of coal based power: Challenges and possibilities for South African Electric supply future," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1281-1288.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:3:p:1281-1288
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2009.11.010
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    1. de Groot, R.A.F. & van der Veen, V.G. & Sebitosi, A.B., 2013. "Comparing solar PV (photovoltaic) with coal-fired electricity production in the centralized network of South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 823-837.
    2. Walwyn, David Richard & Brent, Alan Colin, 2015. "Renewable energy gathers steam in South Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 390-401.
    3. Minglu Ma & Zhuangzhuang Wang, 2019. "Prediction of the Energy Consumption Variation Trend in South Africa based on ARIMA, NGM and NGM-ARIMA Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.

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