South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM)

The report assesses South Africa's capacity for renewable energy industrialisation, specifically in wind and solar PV. It identifies a shift from import-substitution to vertically specialised industrialisation as a key strategy and highlights the role of local content requirements (LCRs) and market stability. Comparative analysis of countries like Brazil, China, and Turkey suggests that long-term market visibility and strategic procurement are essential for sustainable manufacturing. The document also explores how renewable energy can support a Just Transition in coal-dependent regions through economic diversification and job creation.

• South Africa's approach to renewable energy industrialisation has primarily relied on the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPPP), but this has faced challenges because local content is only one of several socio-economic objectives, contributing only 7.5 points to the total score.
• To capture value in highly competitive global renewable energy value chains, South Africa should shift from import-substitution (ISI) and export-oriented industrialisation (EOI) toward vertically specialised industrialisation (VSI), focusing on traded intermediate goods.
• Local manufacturing of wind turbine blades requires a minimum demand of 400 MW/year per OEM for at least 5 years to be viable, while local nacelle assembly and manufacturing of generators and converters would require a total local market of 1000 MW/year.
• In the solar PV sector, a sustained demand of at least 300 MW/year is necessary to justify investment in module manufacturing. While South Africa has capacity in crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules, 50% of this is for a single OEM.
• The small scale embedded generation (SSEG) market is over 95% dominated by solar PV, but it has less than 5% local content because private sector decisions are driven primarily by price.
• Comparative analysis shows that successful renewable energy industrialisation often depends on five factors: local market size and visibility, local content requirements (LCRs), government industry support, export aid, and alignment with existing industrial strengths.
• Brazil's success in wind industrialisation was aided by longer project construction lead times (3, 4, and 6 years) compared to South Africa's typical 2 years, and LCRs that provided access to favorable concessional finance via the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES).
• Turkey has effectively used a "winner-takes-all" bidding process (YEKA/REZ system) and strict LCRs to drive the establishment of technically advanced solar value chain components, including ingots and wafers.
• Renewable energy can support a Just Transition in South Africa's coal-mining regions by adapting existing industries, such as converting coal-based generators to biomass or pivoting the steel industry toward wind power manufacturing.
• Manufacturing contributes differently to job creation across technologies, providing 22% of jobs (in person-days) in utility scale solar PV and 17% in wind value chains.

APA

GreenCape (2020). South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM). https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SAREM_InterimResearchSummary_20201211.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM). 2020. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SAREM_InterimResearchSummary_20201211.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM) |date=30 November 2020 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SAREM_InterimResearchSummary_20201211.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencape2020south, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM)}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SAREM_InterimResearchSummary_20201211.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }