A more ambitious renewable-energy build programme than the one outlined in the Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP 2019), which already has a large renewables component, will greatly benefit South Africa and should begin immediately, a new study asserts. Produced jointly by Meridian Economics and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Energy Centre, the study reaffirms that South Africa’s “cost-optimal” future power supply should be based on wind, solar, storage and peaker plants, given that new coal, nuclear and hydro are no longer economically competitive.
