Energy decentralization in South Africa: Why past failure points to future success

A. Lawrence

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2020, vol. 120, issue C

Abstract: South Africa's energy transition has stalled on two related fronts: its rollout of renewable energy (RE) sources has suffered interruptions and delays, proceeding too slowly; and its extension of reliable and affordable electricity has been hampered by both irregularities of coal-generated supply, as well as austerity-driven delivery policies. This paper argues however that the concurrence of two, previously sequential historical events – fiscal crisis and intra-regime schism – currently augur more auspiciously for a more concerted move toward ED. After explaining the logic of tipping points and critical junctures, it shows why prior attempts at decentralization failed, how centralised RE has disempowered local communities, and why this may change with the planned unbundling of the country's energy parastatal, Eskom.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Austerity; Community-led governance; Critical junctures; Decentralization; Small-scale generation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119308652
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:120:y:2020:i:c:s1364032119308652

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.109659

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().