INTRODUCTION
In 2020 South Africa was responsible for 87% of Africa’s total coal generation and faced significant challenges in decarbonising its grid.
For 16 years, South Africa has faced significant challenges concerning its energy supply, leading to daily controlled power outages implemented by the national power utility, Eskom, to prevent a total electricity grid collapse.
At the same time, the country’s reliance on coal-generated power has come under scrutiny due to its significant environmental impact.
In light of these issues, the South African government has been exploring renewable energy sources to diversify its energy mix and reduce its carbon footprint. However, generating renewable energy sources in South Africa is challenging, as it requires significant investments in infrastructure and technology.
The $8.5bn Just Transition Partnership signed at COP26 and a commitment to decarbonise the power sector represent major steps towards the country’s net-zero goal by 2040. However, there has been limited progress towards these targets.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The objective of this data analysis project is to explore the generation of alternative energy in South Africa between 1985 and 2022.
The dataset contains information on energy consumption, energy generation, and other relevant metrics. The analysis aims to uncover trends and patterns in the country’s energy landscape, focusing on coal, fossil fuels, and renewable sources and insights into South Africa’s transition to sustainable energy sources.
By examining factors such as energy consumption per capita, changes in energy production, and the share of different energy sources, the project seeks to provide insights into South Africa’s transition towards alternative and sustainable energy solutions over the specified period.
ABOUT THE DATASET
For this project, I used the Our World in Data: Energy dataset, published by Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado under the Creative Commons BY Licence.
This dataset logs annual power generation and import data for 215 countries from 1900 to 2022. Data is collected from multi-country datasets as well as national sources. A detailed methodology can be accessed here. All the data can be viewed and downloaded freely from Github.
Citation
Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (2022) – “Energy”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/energy’ [Online Resource]
SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY MIX
The dominant energy source in South Africa’s electricity mix is coal, which represents 88% of all energy generated between 2000 and 2022.
Nuclear energy makes up 5.3% of South Africa’s energy mix. Eskom runs South Africa’s sole nuclear plant, Koeberg, near Cape Town, with two 1980s reactors producing 1,830 MW.
Solar power generation has increased in recent years, contributing 5.3% to the country’s power grid.
SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY MIX OVER TIME
South Africa’s energy mix is dominated by coal, which accounts for about 88% of its primary energy supply. This is followed by nuclear energy (5.3%) and solar energy (5.3%).
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind in South Africa have slightly increased. However, they contributed a small percentage to the country’s overall energy mix in 2022.
PROGRESS TOWARDS ENERGY TRANSITION TARGETS (2040)
Goal: 100% clean energy by 2040
In 2021, renewable energy contributed a mere 7.7% to South Africa’s grid. However, the share of clean energy production is steadily increasing, from just 3.2% in 2020 to 9.3% in 2022.
Goal: No coal or fossil fuels by 2040
Coal remains the dominant force in South Africa’s energy mix, currently representing 88% of its total primary energy supply. Nuclear energy and renewable sources each account for 5.3% of the mix. While there has been a modest increase in solar and wind energy usage in South Africa, they remain a relatively small portion of the country’s electricity portfolio.
SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY MIX COMPARED TO OTHER BRICS NATIONS
In terms of renewable energy adoption, South Africa is lagging behind other BRICS countries. In 2022, renewable energy accounted for just 9.3% of South Africa’s total primary energy supply, compared to 20% in China, 18% in India, 13% in Brazil, and 12% in Russia.
THE FULL PROJECT
EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS
During the exploratory data analysis phase, I gained insights into the data, identified patterns, and detected anomalies or missing values.
DATA VISUALISATIONS
In the visualisation phase of this project, I used Python and Matplotlib to render various graphical representations to communicate the insights gained during the analysis phase.
CONCLUSION
Thank you for reading this project.
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