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South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer (REIPP) procurement programme is hailed worldwide as a model for renewable energy procurement. Its success is far from experimental and haphazard and points directly to lessons acquired prior to, and during, the launch and running of the programme. This article explores the journey to the R...
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This guideline seeks to help countries who are thinking of establishing a national evaluation system (NES) and suggests the minimum requirements for doing so. At present in Africa there are three countries with established NESs, Benin, Uganda and South Africa. These systems are outlined in Goldman et al., (2018). This guideline draws from the exper...
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... This auction bidding regulatory process has now been globally adopted and customised to different country contexts (Eberhard & Naude, 2017;Hansen et al. 2020). Much of the literature on South Africa's experience has been concerned with the broader programme dynamics, challenges in terms of programme design, technical features of procurement and economic development criteria (Moldvay et al., 2013;Rennkamp and Westin 2013;Montmasson-Clair & Ryan 2014;Baker & Wlokas, 2015;Morris & Martin, 2015;Baker, 2016). However, these did not explore the localisation dynamics in much detail. ...
This article utilises a GVC analytic framework to analyse the wind energy value chain in South Africa and its impact on localisation of goods and services. Its theoretical contribution highlights governance as dependent on system integration dynamics, with lead firms operating as system integrators. The empirical analysis focuses on the interplay between energy and industrial policy showing how policy failure, driven by coal-based vested interests, disrupted system integration and undermined the renewable energy programme. The failure to ensure continuity and predictability of the auction bidding process within energy policy cascaded down the wind energy chain negatively impacting industrial policy attempts to localise domestic and foreign enterprises. This also derived from the South African government failing to prioritise, develop, and embed renewable energy as a green economy strategy within its industrial policy framework. We conclude with the following lessons: (a) GVC dynamics and lead firms cannot be ignored if localisation is to take root; (b) green strategies should be mainstreamed within industrial policy; (c) localisation starts with lead firms encouraging follower sourcing of first tier suppliers; (d) localising domestic value-added services is just as important as developing manufacturing enterprises.
... Even after commissioning in excess of 2900 MW of renewable energy through privately funded projects worth US$13.1 billion (exchange rate of 15.37 ZAR:1 USD as per South African Reserve Bank data for the 1st quarter of the 2020 fiscal year) of investment [11], Eskom remains the largest generator of electricity in the country at 95%, through an installed capacity of 47 GW, of which 39 GW is from coal-based sources [13]. The government has also been slow with passing new policy to supplement the REIPPPP success, such as the proposed Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) bill, which is meant to establish a single buyer and wholesale distributor of electricity, separate from Eskom [14]. ...
The lauded Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) has achieved much in stimulating private sector investment in the renewable energy market in South Africa. Yet, 95% of electricity generated is still from a single source, the state-owned utility Eskom. This paper set out to explore the policy sphere governing electricity generation and identifying possible avenues that can contribute to a more vibrant solar energy market in the most solar abundant province of South Africa, the Northern Cape Province. Licensed mines were identified as low hanging fruit due to a large policy overlap and leeway within existing mining policy. A solar audit of these areas was performed, based on accepted multi-criteria decision analysis techniques, and found that a potential 369 TWh to 679 TWh per annum can be generated, exceeding South Africa’s current electricity usage.
... South Africa recognises that green economy transition remains a key attribute in the attainment of sustainable development (Montassom-Clair & Ryan, 2014); hence, the country participates in numerous international conventions and has ratified a number of agreements that advocates for sustainable development and green economy transition. Furthermore, South Africa has partnered with several international green economy agencies and other stakeholders in a bid to understand the phenomenon (Nhamo, Pophiwa & Tshangela, 2014). ...
South Africa's National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) recognises the important role of women and youth in environmental management and development. To this end, significant strides have been made by the country in gender mainstreaming. The “Environment Sector Gender Framework” and the “Framework and Strategy Toward Gender Mainstreaming in the Environment Sector 2016–2021” are some of the policy frameworks that have been implemented. In addition, a number of initiatives and programmes such as the Green Fund, established in April 2012, the Groen Sebenza Learnership Programme, and environmental conservation through the Expanded Public Works Programme have been developed. Using a mixed method research design approach, the paper attempts to answer the following questions: Are the concerns and perspectives of women sufficiently integrated in the green economy and environmental sector policies and programmes? What green economy and environmental sector projects are women involved in and what is the proportion of women involved in such projects? Through simple random sampling, the study established that space has been created for women involvement in the green economy and environmental sectors. However, there still remains a need to raise awareness of the available opportunities and interventions to build capacity at project conceptualisation and management levels. The involvement of women further requires meaningful public participation, social inclusion, and the devolution and decentralisation of decision‐making processes.
... Montmasson and Ryan [45] and Yuen (2014) cited by Aures [43] states that the design of auctions did not succeed so well because of many requirements, including LCR and short-term policy perspectives. However, the scheme has led to technological diversity, and government officials see a potential to boost local manufacturing in a sector that is completely underdeveloped [43]. ...
... Reduction in bid prices are related to "reductions in the costs of the technologies, project developers becoming more familiar with the programme, an increased maturity of technologies, aggressive (price) competition, reduced price ceiling for some technologies, and the allocation of a capacity limit for each technology from the second round onwards" [45]. ...
This report assesses the technology innovation implications of NDCs, technology portfolio choices, and international competitiveness in clean technologies. Chapter 1 consists of a quantitative analysis showing the export and innovative strength of countries in 14 low-carbon technologies. Most countries of the analyzed panel exhibit a specialization in at least one low-carbon technology. Chapter 2 estimates experience curves of energy technologies and finds that that it is likely that wind, solar and storage technologies will become much cheaper in the near future, and that this progress can be accelerated by increasing near-term investments. Fossil fuel and nuclear based technologies have only a low chance of significant future progress.
Country case studies present past experiences with low-carbon technologies, future possibilities, and discuss different policy options. Using the example of wind energy in Brazil and South Africa, the results of chapter 3 suggest that a rightly designed climate policy together with Local Content Requirements (LCR) can indeed be a driving force for a strong local industry supporting decarbonization. Chapter 4 highlights that industrial and technological competitiveness are not also always related and identifies the main barriers in China to further innovation in its PV sector. Chapter 5 determines the technological potential and competitiveness of electric mobility technologies in Italy. Chapter 6 presents an analysis of a technology innovation system (TIS) of concentrated solar power (CSP) in South Africa and identifies certain technologies in which South Africa can create a comparative advantage. Chapter 7 finds positive prospects for wind energy in the Brazilian climate policy.
... The demise of some national utilities, such as Eskom in South Africa, has also led to the emergence of new players in the region's energy markets through independent power producers (IPPs) and smallscale embedded generators, challenging the market position of state-owned utilities, and reshuffling the cards of regional energy integration (Das Nair et al., 2014;Montmasson-Clair and Ryan, 2014;Mutanga and Simelane, 2015;Vanheukelom and Bertelsmann-Scott, 2016). ...
The energy landscape in Southern Africa has been rapidly evolving over the last decades. An economy-wide transition to sustainability is underway, with energy at its core. In addition, a progressive movement of regional integration with numerous energy-related initiatives is taking place, principally through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). At the same time, electricity supply industries in the region are restructuring, with the emergence of independent power producers and increased individualism. These dynamics call for a renewed approach to regional electricity integration in support of sustainable energy development and a critical analysis of regional electricity dynamics with the aim of improving regional sustainability. Against this background, this paper reviews the performance of the SAPP region through an electricity sustainability prism of analysis. Three key dimensions are considered to assess electricity sustainability in the region: electricity security; electricity equity; and environmental sustainability. The paper then analyses the existing role of regional integration in terms of electricity sustainability in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and explores the potential to improve Southern Africa's electricity sustainability through regional integration channels.
... In response, this paper seeks to make a contribution to on-going debates about how to conceptualise the spatial processes of renewable energy transition, while also making a case for understanding renewable energy transitions as simultaneously spatial and political processes. Timothy Mitchell (2011) has illustrated how the material properties of carbon fuels revolutionised first western and then global polities. Due to its bulk and dependency on labour to move it, coal gave working-class people and labour unions new power, acting as a catalyst for democracy and progress. ...
... These cases are important because they counter the reduction of energy landscapes to inert resource frontiers and reassert the ways in which they are simultaneously natural, social and active (Tsing, 2005, p. 29). While land is unlikely to give dispossessed people power similar to that given by coal to working-class people (Mitchell, 2011), its material properties as a resource fixed in situ also give rise to very particular forms of territorialisation and struggle (Li, 2014). Land rights legislation and claims involving REI4P projects illustrate that historical land injustices cannot be erased from South Africa's energy transition. ...
This paper seeks to make a contribution to on-going debates about how to conceptualise the spatial processes of renewable energy transition. It makes a case for understanding renewable energy transitions as simultaneously spatial and political processes, constitutive of new territories and configuring development pathways. Drawing on a case study of South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme (REI4P), the paper explores the ways in which energy transitions are intrinsically bound up with both the materiality and the historical and contemporary politics of land. It then examines the relationship between energy transitions and territory to conceptualise the ways in which transitions take on an experimental shape in the form of 'zones'. The paper argues that these zones are new territories deploying forms of spatial and political-administrative exceptionality, which allow political and economic actors to exercise authority and commercial power. Two types of zone emerging from South Africa's energy transition exemplify these processes: legally-defined zones for the development of solar and wind energy and zones of socioeconomic development required by REI4P. The paper explores the spatial and political consequences of these strategies and suggests that these may not necessarily translate into conflict and confrontation, but instead produce uneasy co-existences of different political, social and spatial projects and interests, with potential to create new polities.
... The market fundamentals for the renewable energy sector have been driven at a national level by the REIPPPP. The REIPPPP established the certainty in the market, both in the allocation of renewable energy generation capacity as well as the financial backing by National Treasury in Eskom's deal to procure energy from IPPs (Montmasson-Clair and Ryan, 2014). The innovation of the REIPPP for South Africa is that it holds the potential to unlock and promote the local renewable energy market. ...
This paper explores the role of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) designation in promoting regional development in the Western Cape. A case study of Atlantis is used to reflect on lessons in preparing the industrial node for designation as a greentech hub. It argues that SEZ designation is a useful industrial policy tool for regional development-a necessary tool; however, it is not sufficient without supporting measures such regional collaboration and broader industry support. Prior to SEZ designation, initiatives to advance the green economy in Atlantis began in 2010, supporting, among others, the manufacturing of renewable energy technologies. Sufficient market demand has been ensured through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and its local content requirements. The SEZ tool serves as a coordinating mechanism and a means of focusing the efforts in the region to promote nascent green industries, particularly in renewable energy, and reposition Atlantis as a destination for green manufacturers. Features such as the industrial history and recent developments in greentech promotion are unique to Atlantis and strengthen its case for SEZ readiness. There are, however, many lessons in preparing the space for designation that can replicated across the other SEZs in South Africa-particularly around spatial planning and institutional collaboration to attract investors.
Namibia has quickly become a leading African destination for renewable energy investments due to the country's considerable renewable energy and land resources and competitive prices for utility-scale solar PV independent power projects (IPPs) procured through auction programs. These project prices are all the more remarkable considering that contracts are in local currency, provided without government support, a rarity in sub-Saharan Africa. Key to this outcome is NamPower, Namibia's state-owned power utility. NamPower is both procurer and off-taker for these projects and is one of only three utilities in sub-Saharan Africa that can charge cost-reflective tariffs. The utility is generally regarded as well run and is supported by a regulatory agency positioning the country to embrace the energy transition rapidly. This paper analyses the evolution of Namibia's renewable energy procurement programs, illustrating how a combination of factors at the country, program and project levels led to competitive prices and high project-realisation rates.
Auctions have become the main instrument of choice to support renewable electricity around the world. This is probably due to their alleged virtues in terms of efficiency. However, whether auctions will meet their expectations and be successful will depend on the choice of design elements in particular settings. Although the analysis of the advantages and drawbacks of different design elements has received considerable attention in the literature, this is not the case with the real-world adoption of different design elements across different regions and renewable electricity technologies and overtime. The aim of this paper is to cover this gap in the literature. Using a database of 90 renewable electricity auctions from around the world, built by the authors, this article analyzes different patterns of adoption of design elements overtime, across continents and technologies. The results of the analysis show that, indeed, large differences across regions and overtime can be observed for some design elements. Regarding regional differences, this is the case for geographical diversity, local content requirements, remuneration form, auction form and disclosure of ceiling prices. Some design elements clearly show a distinct pattern over time: volume metric, size diversity, selection criteria, auction format, auction type, pricing rule and ceiling prices. In contrast, the differences across technologies are less marked and are circumscribed to geographical diversity, auction format and remuneration form. Several possible explanations for the patterns and trends in auction design are proposed.
