South Africa's energy transition has become a highly topical, emotive and politically contentious topic. Taking a systems perspective, this book offers an evidence-based roadmap for such a transition and debunks many of the myths raised about the risks of a renewable-energy-led electricity mix. Owing to its formidable solar and wind resources, South Africa has an almost unparalleled opportunity to turn solar photovoltaic and onshore wind generators into the country's power generation workhorses - a role hitherto played by coal. This book shows that a renewables-led mix will not only provide the lowest cost, but will also create more jobs than any of the alternatives currently under consideration. In addition, it offers a glimpse of how South Africa's low-cost and decarbonised electricity system can power a competitive industrial economy, an electric-mobility revolution and, in the long run, create new export opportunities.

This book will be of great interest to energy industry practitioners, as well as students and scholars of energy policy and politics, environmental economics and sustainable development.

Tobias Bischof-Niemz is the Head of Corporate Business Development at ENERTRAG AG, a Berlin-based global clean-energy company. He previously established and led the Energy Centre at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, and holds a PhD from TU Darmstadt, Germany, and an MPA from Columbia University, New York, USA.

Terence Creamer is a South African journalist who has been writing about the country's energy sector since 1994. He is currently editor of Creamer Media's Engineering News and a contributing editor to Mining Weekly and Polity.

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One: A tipping point

Chapter Two: How did we get here?

Chapter Three: It's all about solar and wind

Chapter Four: Electrification of just about everything

Chapter Five: No showstoppers

Chapter Six: Democratisation of electricity generation

Chapter Seven: Just transition