South Africa's energy transition – Unraveling its political economy

Hanto, Jonathan; Schroth, Akira; Krawielicki, Lukas; Oei, Pao-Yu; Burton, Jesse

doi:10.1016/j.esd.2022.06.006

Cited by 39 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Moreover, according to the data, in 2019, coal production was 306 million metric tons in South Africa. It accounts for 2.3% of South Africa's GDP, which includes 40% to 45% of the sales income from the exported market [14]. In 2021, coal mining contributed 480.9 billion rands to its GDP [15].…”

Section: Figure 2 the Consumption Of South African Coalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Coal Mining: South Africa

Wang¹

2023

HBEM

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South Africa is a country that combines considerable coal mines, coal reserves and natural resources, environmental issues, and water scarcity. Increasing concerns with the carbon footprint and carbon dioxide emissions worldwide have led to a growing number of scholars studying the coal mining field. According to the research, the influences of coal mining in South Africa are dissected. The positive influence is that coal mining improves the South African economy, expressive of impacts on export, domestic consumption, GDP, and employment. However, coal mining damages the environment, evidently in water and air, which harms people’s and animals’ health. Depending on the backgrounds and facts of South Africa, the environmental issues should be given more consideration because they may threaten South Africa in the long term. Fortunately, two environmental policies, including damage land tax (DLT) and environmental bonds, are referred to solve the issue brought about by coal mining. Therefore, the economic effects of coal mining are the benefits for South Africa; the environmental influences are the cost.

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Section: Figure 2 the Consumption Of South African Coalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Coal Mining: South Africa

Wang¹

2023

HBEM

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“…This paper focuses on the grid integration of RE in South Africa, which has recently experienced several challenges surrounding supply reliability of the country's energy needs, leading to a decline in the average Energy Availability Factor (EAF) down to only 65% in 2020 (Hanto et al, 2022). This follows years of infrastructure neglect and lack of maintenance leading Eskom, the country's primary energy provider, to battle unplanned breakdowns of its old and poorly maintained power plants to remain below 9,500 MW, at which point planned load shedding is initiated to maintain stability of the country's strained electrical grid (Statistics South Africa, 2018Eskom, 2019bEskom, , 2019aEskom generation division, 2019;Maune, 2019;Creamer, 2021;Ayamolowo et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As part of the solution to the ongoing energy crises South Africa is planning to significantly ramp up its use of RE for electricity production, and therefore developed RE specific grid codes to potentially limit added instabilities brought about by its integration. RE integration plans are reflected by initiatives such as the 2030 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), setting a renewable generation addition target of 14,725 MW by 2030, 6,422 MW of which are already operational and around 4,100 MW of which are already connected and grid integrated (Department of Energy, 2010Energy, , 2011National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), 2012;Department of Energy and Department of National Treasury, 2018;RSA Department of Energy, 2018;Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, 2019;Statistics South Africa, 2020;Ayamolowo et al, 2022;Hanto et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of a real-time testbed for renewable energy integration studies: South African grid code case study

Joubert

Raji

2023

JEDT

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Purpose Despite South Africa’s ailing electrical grid, substantial renewable energy (RE) integration is planned for the country. As grid-integrated RE affects all grids differently, this study aims to develop an adaptable grid code-guided renewable power plant (RPP) control real-time simulation testbed, tailored to South African grid code requirements to study grid-integrated RE’s behaviour concerning South Africa’s unique conditions. Design/methodology/approach The testbed is designed using MATLAB’s Simulink and live script environments, to create an adaptable model where grid, RPP and RPP guiding grid codes are tailorable. This model is integrated with OPAL-RT’s RT-LAB and brought to real-time simulation using OPAL-RT’s OP4510 simulator. Voltage, frequency and short-circuit event case studies are performed through which the testbed’s abilities and performance are assessed. Findings Case study results show the following. The testbed accurately represents grid code voltage and frequency requirements. RPP point of connection (POC) conditions are consistently recognized and tracked, according to which the testbed then operates simulated RPPs, validating its design. Short-circuit event simulations show the simulated wind farm supports POC conditions relative to short-circuit intensity by curtailing active power in favour of reactive power, in line with local grid code requirements. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first design of an adaptable grid code-guided RPP control testbed, tailored to South African grid code requirements in line with which RPP behavioural and grid integration studies can be performed.

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“…how economic barriers to the transition are intertwined with political dynamicsor from critical ones-for example examining how the political-economic configurations of power reproduce existing inequalities and injustices within the energy system. In most cases, these perspectives are actually combined (e.g., [12,[16][17][18][19][20]). What emerges as an alternative to these perspectives is an engagement with the placebased practices in which different transition alternatives are explored, for example by constituting 'experimental zones' [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The governance of energy transitions in Africa: a sketch of plural perspectives

et al. 2022

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Building on the contributions to the article collection “The Governance of Sustainable Energy Transitions in the Global South “, this editorial offers a sketch for a research agenda on transitions research with a main focus on Africa. Still being ill-defined in its concrete contours, this research agenda engages with the central themes of heterogeneity, politics, and the material basis of energy transitions. In this editorial, we address both procedural and content-related questions. Regarding procedural questions, we inform about the context in which this collection emerged. On that, a workshop held in Accra in September 2019 was a key milestone. We contextualise the challenges that some workshop participants had with developing their contributions into publishable articles in the context of uneven academic support structures and knowledge hegemonies. Finally, we introduce the contributions to our article collection, emphasising how they connect and contribute to our draft research agenda. With regard to the content dimension, this article collection builds and proclaims the need for plural approaches to understanding energy transitions in Africa. A plurality of specific context conditions calls for pluralistic analytical perspectives. Not taking for granted hegemonic, western ways of understanding energy systems and explaining change, we rather depart from engagements with the diversity of changes that aggregate into transition pathways—a diversity that in the context of Africa is impossible to overlook. To implement such a pluralistic research agenda, scholars need more opportunities to network, exchange and publish.

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South Africa's energy transition – Unraveling its political economy

Cited by 39 publications

References 16 publications

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Coal Mining: South Africa

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Coal Mining: South Africa

Development and validation of a real-time testbed for renewable energy integration studies: South African grid code case study

The governance of energy transitions in Africa: a sketch of plural perspectives

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