An Imbokodo-driven cooperative model for wheeling rural-generated solar-PV electricity to facilitate clean induction-stove cooking among low-income urban households in South Africa

Abstract

Global efforts to address climate change are shifting the debate towards Just Energy Transitions (JET) paradigm which entails more environmentally friendly and inclusive economies, especially in terms of access to clean energy sources. Despite South Africa’s past attempts to improve energy access for low- income households through policies such as Free Basic Electricity (FBE) and Free Basic Alternative Energy (FBAE), energy poverty continues to intensify especially for poor urban households. On the other hand, increasing adoption of renewable energy (RE) technologies such as solar-PV due to factors such as rising grid electricity costs and falling prices of RE technologies provoked an investigation into equitable and innovative modalities based on a women-oriented JET focusing on rural and urban low-income households. Inspired by the imbokodo paradigm during anti-apartheid struggle (‘solidness of rock’ as metaphor of women resilience), the study applied a qualitative approach towards a model for addressing gendered energy poverty especially among low-income urban households. The model is based on a transformed role of rural and urban women as clean energy prosumers (generators and consumers), thus envisaging leadership roles for women in the sphere of zero-carbon energy and climate change mitigation initiatives within the overarching JET paradigm. The study focused on Alexandra township in Johannesburg as the urban energy consumer community (especially for clean cooking with induction stoves) coupled to Chebeng Village in Limpopo as the rural energy-generating community. Primary data were gathered through ethnographic observations in Alexandra with specific focus on cooking using conventional appliances versus induction stove. Data tools such as photographs, audio and video recordings, individual interviews, and direct observations were employed. Key challenges identified include limited kitchen space and a lack of incentive to replace existing faulty/inefficient stoves. A transect walk helped to identify constraints limiting rooftop solar-PV installations thus warranting alternative mechanisms such as wheeling green electricity. In spite of optimal solar resource of Chebeng Village, ethnographic observations identified critical challenges such as stifling control by tribal authority over women’s access to land for large-scale RE projects such as solar- PV farms. Nexus of gender and energy poverty, particularly in cooking as well as socio-political challenges specific to the urban and rural contexts suggest that a wheeling coupling of women-led solar-PV generation cooperatives in rural areas with consumer cooperatives in urban settings would facilitate clean electricity for zero-carbon cooking with induction stoves for urban households. Leveraging wheeled solar-PV electricity from rural to urban women-led cooperatives would also catalyze value-chain benefits such as green skills, jobs and entrepreneurship which are also JET goals for equitable low-carbon economies.