Working Paper
Post-apartheid electricity policy and the emergence of South Africa’s renewable energy sector

This paper situates South Africa’s new renewable energy sector within the context of the country’s electricity system and in turn its unique political economy. I chart major developments in the country’s energy policy and governance since the end of apartheid and show how electricity policy is determined by economic, political, and technological factors.

I examine the contested negotiation of key policies, which have been fundamental to the introduction of a renewable energy sector. I consider how the new renewable energy sector has evolved thus far and raise key challenges and concerns for its future development.