{"id":90274,"date":"2025-03-07T10:24:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=90274"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:37:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:37:42","slug":"private-power-rsa-renewable-energy-in-61-charts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/private-power-rsa-renewable-energy-in-61-charts\/","title":{"rendered":"Private power: RSA Renewable Energy in 6+1 charts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\ud83d\udcdd By Gemma Ritchie<\/a> and Laura Grant<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa needs a rapid switch to renewable energy. Not only is it critical to keep global temperature increase and its consequences in check, it would also be good for South Africa\u2019s economy. This was a key message of a public lecture at Wits University this week by Sir David King<\/a>, the head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group<\/a> and the former chief scientific advisor to the UK government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King, who studied at Wits in the 1960s, urged South Africa to lead the global south in the transition away from fossil fuels in an inspiring talk entitled \u2018The Paris Agreement at a Crossroad: Pathways to a Sustainable Future\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He held up Kenya, which generates nearly 90% of its electricity<\/a> from non-fossil sources, as an example of what\u2019s possible in Africa. South Africa is still heavily dependent on coal, but renewable energy\u2019s share of the mix is increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has 6,505MW of installed renewable energy capacity that generates power for the national electricity grid, according to Eskom<\/a>. 53% is wind and 44% is solar. Just under 18-million megawatt-hours of electricity from renewables was generated in 2024, nearly two-thirds of it wind, the utility reports. One megawatt hour of electricity can power between 500 and 1,000 homes for an hour. There\u2019s a long way to go before renewables can replace coal. But it\u2019s a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A key driver of the increase in renewable capacity is the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Launched in 2011, it was designed to facilitate private sector investment in renewable energy projects that connect to the national grid through a competitive tender process. Since its inception, 116 projects have been approved, in seven bid windows. Ninety-one of these projects are operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty REIPPPP projects are wind farms. Although there are more solar projects than wind projects, at present the wind farms are generating more electricity for the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a problem. The areas that are rich in solar and wind resources \u2013 the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape \u2013 have run out of grid capacity, according to Eskom\u2019s Generation Connection Capacity Assessment: 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to years of loadshedding, private businesses and residents invested in rooftop solar and other energy alternatives, to compensate for the unreliable electricity supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By February 2025, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) had a list of registrations for private energy projects with a total installed capacity of 11,857MW \u2013 most of it solar. Nersa doesn\u2019t provide information about whether these projects are operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means that private companies have registered through Nersa more alternative energy capacity than the 10,195MW procured through the government\u2019s REIPPP programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape are rich in solar and wind energy potential and are the site of many of the earlier REIPPPP projects, there\u2019s been a big drop in registrations of both private and government projects because of the shortage of grid capacity. The bigger energy projects are now registered for Limpopo and the Free State, where there is space on the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the most recent REIPPP programme bid window, the successful bids were projects in the Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eskom estimates that there is 6,178MW of private rooftop solar installed in South Africa. It\u2019s almost as much as Eskom\u2019s installed renewable capacity for 2025, according to the latest status report from Eskom\u2019s National Transmission Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rooftop solar systems, which aren\u2019t connected to grid, are playing a part. They\u2019re alleviating pressure<\/a> on the national grid, said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billion-dollar blow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The United States has withdrawn all the funding it pledged towards the Just Energy Transition (JET), which amounts to more than $1-billion. The US has withdrawn from the International Partners Group, formed in 2021 with France, Germany, the UK, and the EU, to support South Africa\u2019s efforts to decarbonise its economy. Even before this week\u2019s announcement by the presidency, the US had already reduced the grant portion of it\u2019s funding from $63-million to $56-million. The remainder of the funds were in the form of commercial debt and equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1319,1320,1387],"tags":[],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-90274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate","category-newsletter","category-premium","category-the-outlier"],"acf":{"post_style":"bc","show_on_front":"Yes","link_through":"Yes","big_number":"","big_number_caption":"","big_number_link":"","big_number_background":"","big_number_text_colour":"#000000","big_number_icon":false,"big_number_wide":"yes","featured_chart":{"ID":90277,"id":90277,"title":"Grid_map_new_4","filename":"Grid_map_new_4.png","filesize":122683,"url":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4.png","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/private-power-rsa-renewable-energy-in-61-charts\/grid_map_new_4\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"South Africa has 6,505MW of installed renewable energy capacity that generates power for the national electricity grid, according to [Eskom](https:\/\/www.ntcsa.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Weekly_System_Status_Report_2025_w09.pdf). A key driver of renewable energy capacity has been the government\u2019s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). \n\nLaunched in 2011, it was designed to facilitate private sector investment in renewable energy projects that connect to the national grid through a competitive tender process. Since its inception, 116 projects have been approved, in seven bid windows. Ninety-one of these projects are operational.\n\nForty REIPPPP projects are wind farms. Although there are more solar projects than wind projects, at present the wind farms are generating more electricity for the grid.\n\nBut there\u2019s a snag. The areas that are rich in solar and wind resources \u2013 the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape \u2013 have run out of grid capacity, according to Eskom\u2019s Generation Connection Capacity Assessment: 2025.\n\nGet the data used in this chart on DataDesk<\/a>","caption":"South Africa has 6,505MW of installed renewable energy capacity that generates power for the national electricity grid, according to [Eskom](https:\/\/www.ntcsa.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Weekly_System_Status_Report_2025_w09.pdf). A key driver of renewable energy capacity has been the government\u2019s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). \n\nLaunched in 2011, it was designed to facilitate private sector investment in renewable energy projects that connect to the national grid through a competitive tender process. Since its inception, 116 projects have been approved, in seven bid windows. Ninety-one of these projects are operational.\n\nForty REIPPPP projects are wind farms. Although there are more solar projects than wind projects, at present the wind farms are generating more electricity for the grid.\n\nBut there\u2019s a snag. The areas that are rich in solar and wind resources \u2013 the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape \u2013 have run out of grid capacity, according to Eskom\u2019s Generation Connection Capacity Assessment: 2025.\n\nGet the data used in this chart on DataDesk<\/a>","name":"grid_map_new_4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":90274,"date":"2025-03-07 10:21:03","modified":"2025-03-12 10:49:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":810,"height":810,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4-400x400.png","medium-width":400,"medium-height":400,"medium_large":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4.png","large-width":810,"large-height":810,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4.png","1536x1536-width":810,"1536x1536-height":810,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grid_map_new_4.png","2048x2048-width":810,"2048x2048-height":810}},"flourish_chart_id":"","flourish_sub_title":"","flourish_chart_width":"medium","is_newsletter_post":"No","chart_url":"","background_colour":"#0089AA","text_colour":"#FFFFFF"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90283,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90274\/revisions\/90283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90274"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=90274"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=90274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}