An Evaluation of Potential Strategies in Renewable Energy Systems and Their Importance for South Africa—A Review

Abstract

The ageing of coal-fired power stations in South Africa has led to regular power outages. Therefore, the country will need to urgently increase its electricity capacity to meet further energy demand from growing urbanization and population growth. This challenge has increased interest in alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy (RE). South Africa is gradually implementing appropriate renewable energy practices, reducing carbon emissions, cleansing the air, and assuring a more sustainable future. This paper summarizes the availability, current state, and future potential of renewable energy choices in South Africa. This paper also evaluates specific policy measures and government actions aimed at eliminating barriers and increasing renewable energy deployment in the future. It also considers the South African network’s specialized techno-economic analysis. The findings show that South Africa is still heavily reliant on coal, with 78% of the current installed capacity coming from coal power in 2022, compared to 9.3% for solar and wind energy.

Research on technical cooperation path of renewable energy between China and South Africa

“…In addition, South Africa also sets target for carbon peak and carbon neutrality via "National Determined Contributions," it is aimed to raise the proportion of solar and wind power, which is expected to be increased from the current 7%-40% by 2030. Except for wind energy and solar energy, hydroelectric energy and biomass energy are also expected to potential electricity sources, the installed capacity would be increased to 2545 MW and 313 MW in 2030, respectively (Skosana et al, 2023). However, the wind power and photovoltaic industries in South Africa are still in early development stage, which has tremendous potential for development (Thopil et al, 2018).…”