Political Economy of Climate-relevant Policies: the Case of Renewable Energy in South Africa (Morris, M. / Martin, L.)

Integrated energy (electricity generation) policy is by no means a settled issue in the post-apartheid era in South Africa. The policy framework is predicated on the need for new and additional energy generation capacity. It assumes that coal will continue to remain the dominant source for electricity generation, but accepts that future energy generation will require an energy mix rather than primarily depending on a single form of electricity generation. The central aim of this study is to investigate the power dimensions and struggles between various interests and illustrate how they have manifested in terms of the different outcomes. The report therefore provides insight into how the political economy environment has impacted the unfolding of South Africa’s climate change policy, with a specific focus on the deployment of private sector-driven renewable energies – through the stillborn Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) programme, followed by South Africa’s first successful Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RE IPPPP).

Copyright: Institute of Development Studies, IDS, Sussex.

Weblink: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/5986/ER128_PoliticalEconomyofClimaterelevantChangePoliciestheCaseofRenewableEnergyinSouthAfrica.pdf?sequence=6 

Created Date: 28-10-2015
Last Updated Date: 03-11-2015
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