The carbon intensity of the South African economy is among the highest worldwide:
The amount of CO2 emitted per million international dollars generated almost reaches
twice the world average. First steps have been taken by the South African
government to tackle the challenge of decarbonisation, such as the introduction of a
renewable energy feed-in tariff in 2009. However, the history of this support is a
showcase for potential pitfalls in the implementation of sustainability policies: A
stalemate of two years after the introduction of the feed-in tariff ended with the
abandonment of the scheme in favour of a competitive bidding process in 2011.
While the recently introduced bidding scheme has been lauded for its
professionalism, the uncertainty caused during the process was considerable. This
paper seeks to analyse the underlying reasons for the rough start and derive
recommendations for similar situations in the future.
The paper identifies three main barriers to a smooth implementation of renewable
energy support: 1) Societal priorities other than the deployment of renewable energy
technologies, 2) a lack of coordination and capacity at policy makers’ level, and 3)
strong lobby groups with interests in fossil fuel technologies. These barriers not only
exist in South Africa, but in most other developing – and even developed – countries.
Therefore, many of the recommendations derived for South Africa can be transferred
to other country contexts, such as
• informing the public about climate change and stressing the positive sideeffects
of renewable energy technologies, thereby building public support,
• making use of international mechanisms to build political momentum,
• forming clean energy coalitions with powerful groups in the society,
• communicating support rules as early and clearly as possible, and keeping
later adjustments to the rules predictable to maintain investment certainty,
• establishing inter-ministerial groups with oversight authority to enhance
political coordination,
• supporting established energy suppliers in their discovery of RETs as a new
business field and
• strengthening the position and capacity of renewable energy newcomers.