The private adoption of solar photovoltaic energy in Ekurhuleni Municipality, South Africa
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Date
2021
Authors
Akoon, Ibrahim
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Abstract
As a developing nation, South Africa has many responsibilities to the people living in its
borders, including enabling access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity. The need for
new energy resources becomes even more important in the context of a growing urban
population. Due to the failures of the state-owned enterprise, Eskom, there has been a
decrease in urban energy resilience. Thus, many electricity users are looking towards other
sources for their power supply. As renewable energy becomes more affordable, individual
households and small companies are adopting solar energy, via photovoltaic panels and
solar hot water systems, to provide a portion of their energy needs. This mode of power
generation takes advantage of the high quality South African solar resource, and its
decentralised nature enhances energy resilience at the individual consumer level. This
research quantifies the rate of uptake of photovoltaic panels and solar geysers over the
period 2010 – 2019, in three contrasting neighbourhoods of the city of Ekurhuleni in South
Africa: low-income suburbs, high-income suburbs and areas zoned for commercial or light
industrial development. By comparing different variables to show significant differences
between the three contrasting neighbourhoods, the extent of decentralisation can be
mapped at different scales and rates. Different variables were found to have effects on the
adoption of photovoltaic panels and solar geysers. Overall uptake of photovoltaic panels
increased in all areas from 2010 to 2019.
Description
A research report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters by Coursework in Environmental Sciences to the Faculty of Science, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021