Melanie Gosling
SOUTH Africa has entered the “champion’s league” and is now among the top ten solar photovoltaic (PV) markets in the world.
Christine Lins, executive secretary of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), announced this at a media briefing ahead of the official opening of the SA International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC 2015) in the city on Monday.
But although the country had made it into the top 10 – “at about place number eight or nine” – Lins said there was a great deal of difference between South Africa, which had installed 0.8 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV in 2014, and China, at the top of the league, which had installed 11 GW of PV last year.
Lins said 60 percent of all solar PV power globally had been installed in the last three years.
“The last decade of renewable energy investment has surpassed expectations. The targets set for 2010 were surpassed. The costs have come down significantly and we see renewable energy spreading around the world,” Lins said.
Renewable energy investment was increasing particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
There were now 164 countries that had renewable energy policies.
“Some countries are doing it for security of supply, some for environmental concerns, some for economic concerns.”
Renewable energy represented 19.1 percent of global electricity in 2013.
However, the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative wanted to see this rise to 36 percent by 2030.
“So we still have a long way to go.”
Karen Breytenbach, head of the Department of Energy’s independent power producer’s office, said South Africa had signed up 92 renewable energy projects, which amounted to 6327 MW of electricity. These are all built by the private sector. Of these, 37 were already connected to the grid, representing 1827 MW of power.
“Those that are already connected delivered 4294 gigawatt hours of electricity,” she said.
Wolsey Barnard, acting deputy director of the energy department, said it was significant that South Africa had made the top ten in solar PV, given that there were 164 countries that had renewable energy policies and were investing in the sector.
Arthouros Zervos, chair of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st century (REN21), had said there had been a rising awareness worldwide that renewable energy and energy efficiency were critical, both to address climate change and to provide energy to billions of people still living without electricity. One sixth of the world population had no access to electricity.
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