Renewable Energy – GreenCape Market Intelligence Report 2015

The report analyzes South Africa's renewable energy landscape, divided into utility-scale, commercial/industrial, and residential segments. It highlights the success of the REIPPPP in procuring over 5,000 MW and reducing tariffs, while noting that the lack of an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) creates investor uncertainty. The Western Cape is positioned as a potential green economy hub, leveraging initiatives like the Atlantis Special Economic Zone and the SARETEC training center.

• The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), established in 2011, has procured over 5,000 MW across four bidding rounds. As of the report's writing, 32 projects were operational, contributing approximately 1,500 MW to the national grid.
• The REIPPPP has achieved significant reductions in average bid prices. Solar PV tariffs dropped from 275.8 c/kWh in Round 1 to 78.6 c/kWh in Round 4, while wind energy tariffs decreased from 114.3 c/kWh to 62.0 c/kWh over the same period.
• A 2014 study by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that despite higher costs in the first bid window, those projects provided a net benefit of R800 million to the South African economy through fuel offsets and decreased curtailment.
• The lack of a timely update to the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-2030 is identified as the primary obstacle to investor confidence and the full realization of job creation and manufacturing in the sector.
• The commercial and industrial RE market is primarily driven by rooftop solar PV (typically under 1 MWp), motivated by rising electricity costs—which rose from 30c/kWh in 2008 to 70c/kWh in 2014—and supply insecurity.
• The Western Cape is attracting RE manufacturing through the proposed Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which targets greentech components and offers incentives such as a 15% company tax.
• Grid access has become a critical challenge; most easy-to-access connection points are allocated, forcing developers to either build their own infrastructure or select sites with lower resource quality but better grid capacity.

APA

GreenCape (2015). Renewable Energy – GreenCape Market Intelligence Report 2015. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape-Market-Intelligence-Report-2015-Renewable-Energy-3.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Renewable Energy – GreenCape Market Intelligence Report 2015. 2015. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape-Market-Intelligence-Report-2015-Renewable-Energy-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Renewable Energy – GreenCape Market Intelligence Report 2015 |date=2015 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape-Market-Intelligence-Report-2015-Renewable-Energy-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencape2015renewable, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Renewable Energy – GreenCape Market Intelligence Report 2015}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2015}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape-Market-Intelligence-Report-2015-Renewable-Energy-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }