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South Africa in need of a Renewable Energy Summit |
The Renewable Energy industry was worth nearly $150bn globally in 2007 and is set to grow to $450bn by 2012 according to UNEP. In the process, it is creating millions of green jobs and helping economies become independent of imported fuel, while shifting energy provision to a low-carbon path in accordance with the demands of climate change. In a context of ever-rising fuel prices (for oil, coal, gas and uranium), fuel-free renewable energy is also the only option for reliably capping a rise in energy costs over the long term.
South Africa has a history as an innovator in the energy sector, but has not yet substantially embraced an ambitious renewable energy plan. The present national target of 10 000GWh over ten years leading up to 2013, will not stimulate a significant increase in national renewable energy capacity. This is not consistent with the vision recently adopted by Cabinet in response to the Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS), which sees South Africa move to a post-carbon economy where renewable energy plays a major role.
Both Cabinet and the ruling party have repeatedly called for increased action and ambition regarding renewable energy use, additional to the mandate provided by the White Paper on Renewable Energy of 2003. However, plans for construction of the first large-scale solar power plant have been deferred by Eskom (which in 2005 promised to begin construction early in 2007, but has yet to finalise financing); wind farms are planned at too small a scale to justify local manufacture; scale-up of the solar water heating industry does not match the opportunities for alleviating the electricity supply crisis and the RE Financing and Subsidy office failed to disburse its limited available funds.
The continued low pricing of electricity in South Africa, with around half of the real costs to society externalized from the commercial supply chain, deters private sector participation in electricity supply. A feed-in tariff is required to stimulate renewable energy supply, with tariffs set to ensure a reasonable return on investment. Ambitious national targets are required to stimulate the development of local industries in renewable energy technologies and realize the far higher job creation potential, compared to existing energy development plans, as well as benefiting nationally from technology learning.
The White Paper on Renewable Energy (2003) requires that the national target be reviewed this year, but a national Summit announced for this purpose was recently indefinitely postponed by the DME. However, according to the government statement of 28 July 2008, following consideration of LTMS findings at a Cabinet Lekgotla, the approach to be followed in future includes:
Setting similar targets for electricity generated from both renewable and nuclear energy sources by the end of the next two decades.
Laying the basis for a net zero-carbon electricity sector in the long term.
Incentivising renewable energy through feed-in tariffs.
WWF, as an independent, global and science-based organization focused on partnerships for a Living Planet, has identified the need for a national forum aimed at fostering consensus on South Africa’s Renewable Energy future. To this end, WWF will convene major stakeholders from business, government and civil society for a two-day conference, with the aim of critically revisiting:
1. the implications of renewable energy for the South African economy, and
2. the level ambition that is appropriate and strategic for the country.
To inform discussion, WWF will also launch a recently commissioned research study on ‘The price differential for electricity from renewable resources under emerging market conditions’, being undertaken by the Energy Research Centre based at the University of Cape Town, using the energy modeling work and team of the LTMS; lead author Andrew Marquand.
©Richard Worthington |
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