Energy in South Africa
[1] The vast majority of South Africa's electricity was produced from coal, with the fuel responsible for 88% of production in 2017.
[4] South Africa aims to generate 77,834 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2030, with new capacity coming significantly from renewable sources to meet emission reduction targets.
[8] Coal fired power stations make up 83% to the nominal capacity mix generated just over 90% of the total energy in 2018.
[8] The rest of the energy generated came from a combined contribution by other power stations which accounted for 17% in total nominal capacity.
[12] South Africa produces in excess of 248 million tonnes of coal[13] and consumes almost three-quarters of that domestically.
[15] According to their official website, this is unlikely to change very much in the next few decades, as there is considered to be a "relative lack of suitable alternatives to coal as an energy source."
[16] South Africa is the seventh biggest coal producer as of 2020, producing 248.3 Mt, below Russia 399.8 Mt[17] The largest coal deposits in South Africa are to be found in the Ecca deposits, a stratum of the Karoo Supergroup, dating from the Permian period, between 280 and 250 Ma.
Hundreds of South African old coal mines are filled with sulphate salts, heavy metals and carcinogenic substances like benzene and toluene.
According to Greenpeace most shockingly is eMalahleni 'place of coal', Mpumalanga province, surrounded by 22 collieries and steel, vanadium and manganese plants.
They are Anglo American plc, South32's South Africa Energy Coal,[22] Sasol Mining, Glencore Xstrata, and Exxaro.
[24] In terms of share of GDP in 2012, South Africa was the fourth largest investor in renewable power in the world after Uruguay, Mauritius and Costa Rica.
South Africa receives more than twice as much sunshine than Germany, where over 15 percent of the national electricity supply comes from renewable sources.
[28][29][30][31] The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) is an initiative by the South African government, laid out by the Integrated Resource Plan that is aimed at increasing electricity generation through private sector investment in solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar, wind, small hydro (<40 MW), landfill gas, biomass, and biogas.
[7] "South Africa's National Energy Regulator (NERSA) announced 31 March 2009 the introduction of a system of feed-in tariffs designed to produce 10 TWh of electricity per year by 2013.
The tariff for concentrating solar, 2.10 ZAR/kWh, is less than that in Spain, but offers great promise in the bright sunlight of South Africa.
We are especially pleased as this decision comes shortly after the first North American feed-in law has been proposed by the Government of the Canadian Province of Ontario".
