GreenCape has published a new industry brief titled “Small Scale Embedded Generation: Registration vs. application for connection“.
South Africa’s electricity demand is currently dominated by coal-fired power generation stations which are primarily owned and operated by Eskom, the national power utility.
Eskom supplies ~95% of South Africa’s total electricity demand. The remaining 5% is met through municipalities, imports and independent power producers (IPP). Energy demand
has distinctly flattened since 2010, resulting in reduced demand for coal-based electricity (87% in 2010 versus 79% in 2019).
The South African SSEG market has grown from a few hundred systems in 2015 to over 100 000 systems with an installed capacity of more than 1GW in 2020. Over the last two years, these systems have become increasingly innovative, including energy storage and smart home management.
It is expected that the total annual available market could grow to a saturation point of ~500 MWp installed per year on an ongoing basis. This market could reach a total of 7.5 GW of installed capacity by 2035 – a total available market of R75 billion.
The national regulatory environment has not kept up with the growing local market innovation, which has led to stakeholder uncertainty, increased project risk and ultimately produced suboptimal market growth in a time when new electricity generation is needed.
This latest industry brief clarifies the scenarios under which registration and licensing are required. To access the industry brief, click here.