Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa

The document argues that South Africa's heavy reliance on coal, which provided over 90% of electricity generation, creates a significant opportunity for carbon mitigation through the deployment of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). While the government's White Paper on Renewable Energy (WPRE) set a target of 10,000GWh of renewable energy by 2013, the author suggests a more ambitious target of 15% renewable contribution to final electricity consumption by 2020. To achieve this, the paper proposes a tender process for large-scale projects, complemented by a Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) to make projects financially viable despite low domestic electricity tariffs. The author highlights that South Africa possesses vast solar resources, with 194,000km2 of land potentially viable for CSP. International cooperation is recommended to provide knowledge sharing, incremental funding to bridge the gap between levelised electricity costs and revenues, and risk mitigation to attract private capital.

• South Africa's electricity sector is overwhelmingly dependent on coal, with more than 90% of generation coming from this source, making it a primary area for greenhouse gas mitigation.
• The current government target of 10,000GWh of renewable energy by 2013 represents only about 3% of final demand based on medium demand forecasts.
• A more progressive policy target of 15% renewable energy contribution to final electricity consumption by 2020 is proposed as pragmatically achievable.
• South Africa has immense solar potential; if only 5% of the 194,000km2 of viable land were used, 242GW of CSP could be deployed, potentially providing 530TWh of annual electricity.
• A tender process is proposed as the most effective mechanism for encouraging private sector entry into the CSP market, particularly for large-scale projects, as it allows the market to determine development costs.
• Financial viability for CSP is currently hindered by low electricity tariffs and high capital costs, creating a shortfall between levelised electricity costs (LEC) and revenues.
• The author suggests that a combination of a tender process and a differentiated Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) is necessary to make CSP projects feasible.
• International cooperation is essential for 'learning-by-doing', reducing technology costs through global scale, and providing incremental funding for prototype projects.

APA

Grant, K. (2008). Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/grant-251108-final.pdf

Chicago

Grant, Kate. Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa. Climate Strategies, 2008. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/grant-251108-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Grant |first1=Kate |title=Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=25 November 2008 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/grant-251108-final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{grant2008concentrated, author = {Grant, Kate}, title = {{Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2008}, month = nov, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/grant-251108-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }