Browsing by Author "Marais, Lochner"

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    Barriers to powering past coal: implications for a just energy transition in South Africa
    (Elsevier, 2023-05-25) Mirzania, Pegah; Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Sayan, Ramazan Caner; Marais, Lochner
    The feasibility of South Africa's just energy transition, as dictated by the speed of phasing out coal and scaling up renewables, will rest on a range of techno-economic, socio-political, and socio-technical factors. Interactions between these dimensions of the transition carry significant implications for energy justice. In response, this paper proposes the Just Transition Feasibility Framework (JTFF) to better evaluate how feasibility constraints may impact South Africa's energy transition ambitions, and its more recent commitments to energy justice. Drawing on qualitative findings from interviews with South African energy experts, the study provides critical insights on the national- and community-scale implications of current energy policies. The analysis highlights socio-political constraints related to the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme (REI4P) which aggravate energy vulnerabilities and misrecognition of places. In addition to strategically tackling a range of techno-economic and socio-technical constraints which are seen to exacerbate distributive injustice, the South African government should extend the 50 km radius scheme of the REI4P to a wider and more inclusive regional basis. Foremost, policy interventions must seek to realign South Africa's Minerals Energy Complex towards a just transition pathway committed to renewable electrification, community empowerment, and sustainable socio-economic structures.
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    One technology, two pathways? Strategic Niche Management and the diverging diffusion of concentrated solar power in South Africa and the United States
    (Elsevier, 2020-08-14) Mirzania, Pegah; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Marais, Lochner
    The transition towards a low carbon energy system requires significant deployment of renewable energy technologies. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants could contribute to a low carbon energy system, with an estimated potential global capacity of over 600 GW by 2030. Despite this potential, however, the CSP industry lags behind other renewable technologies, with only about 4% of its estimated global potential expected to be realised in the next decade. This paper investigates the reasons for this by comparing CSP in the US, where 60% of worldwide capacity is currently located, with South Africa, where its development has been slow despite an abundance of natural solar-energy resources. Using strategic niche management analysis, we identify replicable success factors that could accelerate the uptake of CSP projects in developing countries. The results reveal that the main reason for the successful diffusion and adoption of CSP in the US is consistent policy support, which has made it possible to bridge the gap between research and development and emerge in the market. By contrast, the development of CSP in South Africa has been hindered by several technical and economic problems, including a lack of technological expertise, resources and funding
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    Re-evaluating drought indicators: learning from small-scale farmers in South Africa
    (Elsevier, 2024-10-15) Shrimpton, Elisabeth A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Sarmah, Tanaya; Huo, Da; Marais, Lochner
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    Renewable energy, social disruption and formalising the social licence to operate in South Africa
    (Wiley, 2023-07-16) Mabele, Bernard; Marais, Lochner; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Mirzania, Pegah; Mbobo, Babalwa; van der Watt, Phia; Cloete, Jan; Venter, Anita
    A social licence to operate and corporate social responsibility are often applied voluntarily to ensure a positive relationship between businesses and communities. But South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme makes investment in local socio-economic development a contractual obligation. To assess the implications of this legalised approach to CSR and the social licence to operate, between September 2019 and January 2020 we conducted seven focus group discussions and 24 key informant interviews in two towns in South Africa's Northern Cape province. The data were analysed thematically and triangulated with data on crime, municipal finance and house prices. Our concerns about the legalised approach are that it does not require local consent; it reduces local development to a needs analysis; it does not require local collaborative planning, despite adverse consequences such as social disruption; it bypasses local organisation and accountability; it does not provide cheaper local electricity; and it offers no guidelines for decommissioning.