25renewable Energy: The Catalyst for a Sustainable Energy Distribution Sector in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this article, with practical focus, is to analyse the potential of Renewable Energy (RE) as the catalyst for a sustainable energy distribution sector in South Africa (SA) and promote collaboration between the manufacturers, government, and all relevant stakeholders. The research design was a systematic literature review. It used a qualitative research method, through a questionnaire, to evaluate the knowledge and views of professionals from the energy distribution sector, managers or leaders in the energy sector, and energy sector experts. The sample size selected was between 350 and 400 participants. The literature reviewed noted that photovoltaic (PV) energy was one of the primary RE sources for sustainable energy generation. Furthermore, installing capacity and investment continued to grow throughout SA. Of note was the value-added through distributed RE systems in respect of electricity provision. The energy poverty in SA was high, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic further contributed to the challenges experienced. The general conclusions were that due to global warming and increased large-scale pollution, the use of RE for power generation had become evident. The article offered the potential opportunities of RE as the catalyst for the sustainable energy distribution sector in SA. Criteria was developed to include or exclude relevant scientific literature, by identifying subject relevance, type of technology, geographic scope, intervention scale, and data type. Keywords: Photovoltaic, Poverty, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy, reduction INTRODUCTIONDue to advances in information and communication technologies, the world faces a strong evolution, placing knowledge technology based on productivity, competition and power. The world is more interconnected than ever (Vezzoli et al., 2019). Renewable energy sources, such as solar energy (photovoltaic and solar thermal), hydroelectric