The politics of procurement and the low-carbon transition in South Africa

Baker, Lucy; Burton, Jesse

doi:10.4337/9781783475636.00015

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Following evolving concepts of the political economy of electricity (Baker and Burton, 2018), we conceive of the electricity sector as a site of 'struggle' over the governance and ownership of generation, distribution and transmission; and the allocation and access to electricity services (Gentle, 2009;MacDonald, 2016). The concept of struggle further relates to the way in which disruptive technologies will reconfigure electricity as a networked infrastructure and how interactions between technological change and established configurations of political, social and economic power should be accounted for.…”

Section: A Political Economy Of Electricity: From Monopoly To Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further changes include increased energy efficiency; the introduction of national commitments to reduce carbon emissions in 2009; the introduction in 2011 of a programme for the procurement of utility-scale renewable electricity 5 by IPPs which now constitutes approximately 2.9 per cent of the country's system load in 2016 (Calitz et al, 2017); and the increasing cost competitiveness of this renewable electricity compared with that generated by Eskom's new build coal. Formerly one of the world's cheapest generators of electricity until early 2000s, Eskom's average electricity prices increased by approximately 200 per cent between 2008 and 2016, 6 and current tariff decisions are now the subject of legal review (Baker and Burton, 2018).…”

Section: Eskom In Context: a Monopoly In Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We use the South African case study to advance understandings of how politics matters for energy transitions (Bouzarovski et al, 2017;Lockwood et al, 2017) and to consider questions of power, politics, equity and socio-economic welfare that remain under represented in research on energy transitions to date. Following evolving concepts of the political economy of electricity (Baker and Burton, 2018), we conceive of the electricity sector as a site of 'struggle' over the governance and ownership of generation, distribution and transmission; and the allocation and access to electricity services (Gentle, 2009;MacDonald, 2016). The concept of struggle further relates to the way in which disruptive technologies will reconfigure electricity as a networked infrastructure and how interactions between technological change and established configurations of political, social and economic power should be accounted for.…”

Section: A Political Economy Of Electricity: From Monopoly To Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latest draft of the IRP, eventually released in November 2016 for public comment, proposes a generation mix to 2050 and allows for up to 17,600 MW for solar PV. While this is an increase on previous drafts, it has been criticised by renewable energy groups such as the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association for its failure to make specific provision for SSEG and to recognise the impact of disruptive technologies; for using outdated cost assumptions for wind and solar PV; and unjustified constraints on how much renewable energy generation can be built in any one year (Baker and Burton, 2018). The plan also proposes 20,000 MW of nuclear to be built by 2037.…”

Section: Eskom In Context: a Monopoly In Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa

Baker

Phillips

2018

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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This paper argues that the distribution of electricity represents an important yet neglected aspect of the politics of energy transitions. In recent years, South Africa's electricity sector has seen the introduction of new actors and technologies, including the 'prosumer' (producer-consumer) of electricity and small-scale embedded generation from roof-top solar photovoltaics. We analyse these recent developments in historical context and consider implications for contemporary planning, regulation and ownership of electricity. We find that the reconfiguration of electricity distribution faces significant political and economic challenges that are rooted in the country's socio-economic and racial inequalities and its heavy dependence on coal-fired power. First small-scale embedded generation offers potential opportunities for affordable, decentralised, low-carbon energy, yet disruption to the coal-powered electric grid and the monopoly of South Africa's electricity utility has been minimal to date. Second, small-scale embedded generation creates tensions between equitable and low-carbon energy transitions and threatens critical revenue from the country's wealthy consumers that cross-subsidises electricity services for the poor and other municipal public services. Third, the South African experience queries common assumptions about the democratic potential of decentralised governance. Fourth, South Africa provides insights of global significance into how political institutions have responded to social and technological drivers of change, in a context where planning and regulation have followed rather than led infrastructural developments. While energy policy remains unresponsive or resistant to social and technological change, there remain significant political, economic, technical and regulatory challenges to a just and inclusive energy transition.

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Section: A Political Economy Of Electricity: From Monopoly To Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Eskom In Context: a Monopoly In Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Political Economy Of Electricity: From Monopoly To Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Eskom In Context: a Monopoly In Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Tensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa

Baker

Phillips

2018

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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“…During the transition to democracy, access to affordable electricity became 'a basic need and basic right' with social and political resonance (Mayr, et al, 2015), central to the governing African National Congress's (ANC) efforts to redress longstanding social and economic exclusion. (Baker and Burton, 2018).…”

Section: Understanding Energy Systems In Mozambique and South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

A regime in the making? Examining the geographies of solar PV electricity in Southern Africa

et al. 2019

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The Politics of Fossil Fuel Subsidies and their Reform

Rive¹

2018

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Within the fossil fuel subsidy reform literature to date, little attention has been paid to the role of informal transgovernmental networks in promoting what might be regarded as an emerging fossil fuel subsidy reform norm at the international level (see also Chapter 5). A coalition of nine non-Group of 20 (G20) countries known as the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (FFFSR) is a prominent example. The FFFSR has been variously described as a 'norm entrepreneur' (Rive 2016), 1 'ginger group' (Gerasimchuk and Zamudio 2012: 5) and 'influential epistemic community' (Interview 2). Since 2010, the group has been active both publicly and behind the scenes in a range of activities and contexts ostensibly directed towards the stated objective 'to support implementation of the existing commitment made by G20 Leaders in Pittsburgh in September 2009 to "rationalise and phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies"' (NZMFAT 2010: 2). This chapter subjects the background, approach and strategies of the FFFSR to scrutiny. Drawing on constructivist-influenced frameworks for analysing international norm development, the analysis focuses on three aspects of the norm emergence cycle: (1) the framing of fossil fuel subsidies and fossil fuel subsidy reform, (2) the securing of support of state and non-state actors and (3) the strategic use of expertise and information to influence the behaviour of other states. An analysis of the role and approach of the FFFSR in framing fossil fuel subsidies and subsidy reform confronts a perennial definitional issuethat is, whether and how to categorise particular subsidies and classes of subsidies as 'inefficient' and therefore in need of phasing out. The analysis also confronts another issue that has caught the attention of some sections of the international community: whether in the process of framing and addressing undesirable fossil fuel subsidies, production subsidies ought to be treated any differently from

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The politics of procurement and the low-carbon transition in South Africa

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Tensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa

Tensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa

A regime in the making? Examining the geographies of solar PV electricity in Southern Africa

The Politics of Fossil Fuel Subsidies and their Reform

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