Decarbonising South Africa’s Electricity Sector
- South Africa’s electricity sector is central to its efforts to establish a low-carbon economy.
- Electricity generation accounted for 43% of the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2000 and 45% in 2020. The majority of these emissions are generated by 15 coal-fired power plants owned by Eskom.
- South Africa’s ability to meet its decarbonisation goals in the electricity sector will depend on its ability to manage a planned and integrated programme of four parallel efforts:
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- Large-scale and distributed Renewable Energy (RE) generation
- Large-scale transmission network extension
- Widespread upgrades of distribution systems
- Decommissioning, repurposing, and repowering with RE, the coal power stations which reach end of their economic life, without disrupting electricity supply, and in a way that proactively supports the affected workers, communities, and value chains to transition into new economic opportunities.
