Green Cape 2040: Towards a smarter grid

This policy brief examines the impact of small-scale photovoltaic (PV) adoption on municipal revenue in South Africa's Western Cape and proposes a sequential policy approach involving advanced metering infrastructure, smart grid investment, and local PV manufacturing to mitigate financial losses.

• The increase in residential small-scale photovoltaic (PV) production is expected to cause significant revenue losses for municipalities because their current revenue structures rely heavily on electricity consumption. This is driven by the likelihood that Eskom will not maintain electricity prices lower than alternative production methods.
• To mitigate revenue losses, the document proposes a three-stage sequential policy strategy: first, deploying advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in the short term for data collection; second, investing in limited smart grid technology in the medium term to allow coexistence of decentralized and centralized production; and third, promoting the local PV manufacturing industry in the long term.
• While the proposed policies regarding AMI, tariff changes, and domestic PV manufacturing can reduce financial losses, they will not fully solve the municipal revenue problem, as significant losses are predicted across all analyzed scenarios.

APA

Camp, H., Hedden, S., Bohl, D., Petersen, A.-I., & Moyer, J. D. (n.d.). Green Cape 2040: Towards a smarter grid. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/green-cape-2040-towards-a-smarter-grid

Chicago

Camp, Hanna, Steve Hedden, David Bohl, Aa-ishah Petersen, and Jonathan D Moyer. Green Cape 2040: Towards a smarter grid. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/green-cape-2040-towards-a-smarter-grid.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Camp |first1=Hanna |last2=Hedden |first2=Steve |last3=Bohl |first3=David |last4=Petersen |first4=Aa-ishah |last5=Moyer |first5=Jonathan D |title=Green Cape 2040: Towards a smarter grid |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/green-cape-2040-towards-a-smarter-grid |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{campndgreen, author = {Camp, Hanna and Hedden, Steve and Bohl, David and Petersen, Aa-ishah and Moyer, Jonathan D}, title = {{Green Cape 2040: Towards a smarter grid}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/green-cape-2040-towards-a-smarter-grid}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }