The introduction of renewable energy into the South African energy mix without affecting the socio-economic environment of the country
Date
2022-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
There is no doubt that climate change is a reality, even though there is a huge disagreement on what course it. In response to this reality, in 2011 South Africa introduced the National Climate Change Response Policy White Paper (NCCR. 2011; Lukey, 2020). The policy was a mitigation response to address Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. It had short, medium and long term goals to stop the increasing GHG emission by latest 2025 and stabilisestabilize it by 2035 and start
reducing from 2035 – 2050 respectively.
These policies among other things, aim to eradicate or reduce dependency on electricity generation using coal. They also aim to encourage businesses to reduce CO2 emissions. However, instead of businesses reducing CO2 emissions , they pass through the penalties that the government impose on them for emitting CO2 during their production processes to their customers. South African has high unemployment rate and low skilled labour contingent, especially in the coal mining industry. The government cannot afford a fast pace eradication of coal fired power generation as this will deepen unemployment in the coal industry, especially in the Witbank area. The deployment of renewable energy requires highly skilled individuals for construction, operation and maintenance.
The introduction of renewable energy at its current form, where Eskom is a single buyer is very expensive for South Africans at large. This is because Eskom applies a pass through method for buying electricity that is more expensive than their current fleet of electricity generation plants. The industry needs to be deregulated in order to achieve a fair and workable plan for South Africans
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023
Keywords
Climate change, Renewable energy, South African energy mix, Socio-economic environment, UCTD
Citation
Baepi, Marvin. (2022). The introduction of renewable energy into the South African energy mix without affecting the socio-economic environment of the country [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38837