Making Mpumalanga a clean energy hub in South Africa

This Pol­i­cy Brief depicts the oppor­tu­ni­ties for Mpumalan­ga in becom­ing a clean ener­gy hub. The jobs that will be lost in the coal sec­tor can be par­tial­ly replaced by jobs in the renew­able ener­gy sec­tor. To ful­ly replace the lost coal sec­tor jobs, indus­tri­al­i­sa­tion of the renew­able ener­gy val­ue chain is required, while also max­imis­ing the asso­ci­at­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties in relat­ed indus­tries (water, agri­cul­ture, tourism).

To make this hap­pen, and to achieve local val­ue-cre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties, mas­sive invest­ment in renew­able ener­gy capac­i­ty is required. The invest­ment should be in com­bi­na­tion with ini­tia­tives to build asso­ci­at­ed local indus­tries. In addi­tion, the tran­si­tion from fos­sil-based to renew­able ener­gy sources presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to improve con­di­tions for women work­ing in the ener­gy sec­tor in Mpumalanga.

This Pol­i­cy Brief builds on the COBENEFITS Study “From coal to renew­ables in Mpumalan­ga: Employ­ment effects, oppor­tu­ni­ties for local val­ue cre­ation, skills require­ments, and gen­der-inclu­sive­ness” (IASS/IET/CSIR 2022).

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Cre­at­ing an enabling envi­ron­ment to make Mpumalan­ga a clean ener­gy hub in South Africa

 

Sep­tem­ber 2022

Authors: Xolile Msi­man­ga, Ruan Fourie (alum­ni), Bri­an Day, Dineo Makate, Mike Lev­ing­ton, Abram Mare­ma, Boi­tume­lo Tloko­lo – Coun­cil for Sci­en­tif­ic and Indus­tri­al Research (CSIR), Ener­trag, Prime Africa, and Nav­i­tas Energy

Edi­tors: David Jacobs, Sebas­t­ian Hel­gen­berg­er, Lau­ra Nagel – IET and IASS

Sug­gest­ed cita­tion: IASS/IET/CSIR. 2022. Cre­at­ing an enabling envi­ron­ment to make Mpumalan­ga a clean ener­gy hub in South Africa. COBENEFITS Impulse. Potsdam/Pretoria. www.cobenefits.info