The joint
Danish-South African
cooperation
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Denmark and the Republic of South Africa initiated in 2013 the Renewable Energy Program based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two governments in October 2011. The program is supporting South Africa in their effort to decouple economic growth from CO2
emissions by giving technical assistance to support the South African energy sector’s low-carbon transition, particularly focusing on renewable energy initiatives.
The bilateral cooperation is running until mid 2017 and is funded with 40 million DKK (approx. 6 mio. USD) from the global framework under the Danish Climate Envelope, which was agreed upon under COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009.
Changing resources to mitiga- te climate change
The power sector of South Africa is the largest emitter of CO2 in the country, accounting for more than 50% of CO2
emissions, due to the country’s almost total reliance on coal for electricity. South Africa is determined on contributing to reduce global warming and is therefore investing significantly in renewable energy technologies to replace an old end ineffective fleet of coal power plants. These investments in renewable energy require capabilities in areas such as regulation, system integration and operation of the power system – areas which South Africa
Denmark and South Africa cooperate on
climate mitigation, renewable energy and
energy efficiency
traditionally has little expertise in. South Africa is demanding skills and knowledge on these matters to deploy and integrate more renewable energy. As a result, South Africa and Denmark has initiated the Renewable Energy Program in order for Denmark to share the knowledge and the experiences that Denmark has achieved through many years of commitment to renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate mitigating initiatives.
Through the programme the Danish Energy Agency assists the South African Department of Energy and the South African electricity utility, ESKOM, in developing coherent energy planning, including deployment and integration of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The South African goal of mitigating 42% of carbon emissions in 2025, as pledged during COP15 in 2009,
demands competencies and know-how regarding policies and regulations, as well as expertise in planning and operation of the electric grid.
Today, around 10% of South Africans live without electricity and load sheading occurs on a regular basis due to capacity issues.
The detailed Danish insight in integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, while at the same time ensuring security of supply, remains a key Danish competence.
The Danish Energy Agency is through the program providing input on technical issues and effective regulation to South African policymakers and utilities in order to support the energy sector in deploying more renewable energy to make the South African energy transition a reality.
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First component:
Technical assistance to the Depart- ment of Energy
The objective of the first component is to assist and strengthen the Department of Energy in developing coherent ener- gy planning measures to enhance an effective regulation of the South African energy sector. The cooperation with the Department of Energy includes climate change mitigation measures, deploy- ment and integration of energy efficiency technologies and initiatives and regula- tion to give the best possible conditions for renewable energy.
Experts from the Danish Energy Agency assist the South African Department of Energy in their efforts to mitigate carbon emissions. The program involves assistance to develop and implement an administrative system, for assessing the setup of the forthcoming carbon offset scheme of South Africa where Danish skills and knowledge can be transferred to South African energy authorities and entrenched through the program.
Energy efficiency measures are essential in mitigating climate change and have positive effects on human health, the environment, job creation, economic growth and competitiveness. Conse- quently, there is demand for assisting South Africa in drafting their post-2015 national energy efficiency targets and strategy towards 2030. The program will also assist South Africa in energy efficien- cy campaigns, energy audits, consump- tion baselines and in developing energy efficiency instruments on the basis of Da- nish energy efficiency measures in public buildings and the residential sector.
Integrating fluctuating renewable energy into the electricity grid is generally asso- ciated with a multitude of barriers. Sever- al activities in the program are designed to support South Africa to overcome these challenges.
Technical assistance is provided on sharing experiences on the security of supply, development of scenario analyses and availability of reliable data through data collection and statistics.
The program also supplies expertise in
Building on three branches
grid codes, which facilitates the integra- tion and simulation of renewable energy technologies in South Africa.
Second component:
Further development of the wind atlas for South Africa
The objective of the second compo- nent is to support a continuation of the existing Wind Atlas for South Africa (WASA) program to be further developed.
The aim is to assist and strengthen the South African National Energy Develop- ment Institute (SANEDI) and other public entities in mapping the national potential for wind power for the development and implementation of future investments in wind based electricity generation.
Hence, the wind atlas will facilitate future decisions on introducing wind power into the national electricity supply, as well as support the emerging South African wind turbine market.
Third component:
Technical assistance to the Electricity Supply Commission of South Africa The third component provides tech- nical assistance to support ESKOM in
developing decision-making tools and technical analysis aimed at increasing the capacity for integration of renewable energy in the energy supply. A Danish technical expert is assisting ESKOM in network operations and control of distribution systems with a high degree of renewable energy that facilitates the integration and simulation of renewable energy technologies in South Africa.
The program also supplies expertise in system adequacy and reserve margins with increasing level of variable genera- tions.
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