The impact of residential photovoltaic power on electricity sales revenues in Cape Town, South Africa

Mayr, Dieter; Schmid, Erwin; Trollip, Hilton; Zeyringer, Marianne; Schmidt, Johannes

doi:10.1016/j.jup.2015.08.001

Cited by 25 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Recent years have seen the rapid adoption of SSEG in South Africa (Mayr et al, 2015) with estimated installations of over 200 MW by September 2016 (Spencer, 2016), compared to just 35 MW in early 2015 (de Vos, 2016). However, these developments have been taking place in the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework coupled with concern and/or resistance from municipalities and Eskom, whose revenue is threatened by grid defection.…”

Section: Tensions In the Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Baker et al, 2015;Bekker et al, 2008;Eberhard et al, 2014), this paper contributes to the more recent academic studies on the country's distribution system. These studies include the challenges involved in the implementation of SSEG from rooftop solar PV and growing understandings of politics of electricity distribution in South Africa, as a contested space (Janisch et al, 2012;Korsten, 2015;Mayr et al, 2015;Tshehla, 2014;Walwyn, 2015). The paper draws on an extensive desk-based analysis of policy and regulatory documents produced by institutions involved in South Africa's electricity governance, including national and municipal government, the state-owned utility Eskom and the national energy regulator, as well as reports and publications by advocacy organisations, think tanks, industry and relevant media, including Business Day, Engineering News and ESI Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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: Tensions In the Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…As fixed grid costs must be spread over ever fewer customers in case of increasing prosumage, a self-enforcing "utility death spiral" could materialize (cf. Mayr et al 2015, NREL 2013, Parag and Sovacool 2016. Because of early adopters, this could seriously erode utilities' business models even before mass grid defection (RMI 2014).…”

Section: Distributional Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prosumage of solar electricity: pros, cons, and the system perspective

Schill¹,

Zerrahn²,

Kunz³

2017

EEEP

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in January 2017Abstract: We examine the role of prosumage of solar electricity, i.e. PV self-generation combined with distributed storage, in the context of the low-carbon energy transformation. First, we devise a qualitative account of arguments in favor of and against prosumage. Second, we give an overview of prosumage in Germany. Prosumage will likely gain momentum as support payments expire for an increasing share of PV capacities after 2020. Third, we model possible system effects in a German 2035 scenario. Prosumage batteries allow for a notable substitution of other storage facilities only if fully available for market interactions. System-friendly operation would also help limiting cost increases. We conclude that policymakers should not unnecessarily restrict prosumage, but consider system and distributional aspects.

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“…Previous studies were conducted to analyze and investigate solar policies and incentives according to various purposes (refer to Table ) . First, several previous studies evaluated solar policies and incentives through financial analysis .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, some previous studies evaluated solar policies and incentives through impact analysis [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Coffman et al [30] evaluated the solar PV tax credit policy in Hawaii with the payback period (PP) and internal rate of return in terms of the investment benefits, income distribution, and taxpayers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an integrated multi-objective optimization model for determining the optimal solar incentive design

Lee

Hong

Kang

et al. 2017

Int. J. Energy Res.

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Summary To promote the deployment of the solar photovoltaic (PV) system from the long‐term perspective, the solar PV industry in many countries still needs the financial support from the government despite its remarkable growth and price reductions in the last decade. Many countries with this financial burden on their government budget, however, are planning to reduce or to expire the financial support step by step. To bring the solar PV market to its full maturity, it is crucial to improve the solar policies and to sustain the financial support with acceptable and reasonable prices, which can maximize the benefits for the investors while minimizing the incentive budget for the government. Towards this end, this study aimed to develop an integrated multi‐objective optimization (iMOO) model for determining the optimal solar incentive design from the perspectives of the investor and the government. A Microsoft Excel‐based iMOO model was developed using life cycle cost analysis, genetic algorithm, and Pareto optimal solutions. The developed Microsoft Excel‐based iMOO model was applied to six target regions to verify its effectiveness in determining the optimal solar incentive design. As a result, it was shown that depending on the various characteristics (e.g., solar radiation, electricity price, and installation cost) of a region, the optimal solar incentive design can be differently determined with a reasonable and acceptable level using the developed iMOO model. Among the six target regions, Newark required the lowest incentive budget of $US10,648.41 whereas Oklahoma City required the highest incentive budget of $US20,648.73 to offer their optimal solar incentives. The model developed in this study can help both the investor and the government in a decision‐making process and provide some solutions and insights for planning solar policies and strategies. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The impact of residential photovoltaic power on electricity sales revenues in Cape Town, South Africa

Cited by 25 publications

References 29 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

Prosumage of solar electricity: pros, cons, and the system perspective

Development of an integrated multi-objective optimization model for determining the optimal solar incentive design

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