The road to green energy

To keep the national grid stable, renewable energy must be stored somewhere and supplied reliably.

- Gbenga Apata

HURDLE: STORAGE TECHNOLOGY A PROBLEM

South Africa is at a pivotal moment in its energy transition: trying to decarbonise its economy (move away from coal) and ensure that everyone has access to reliable and affordable energy. Storage of renewable energy is very important for this transition.

Solar and wind power are not available all the time. To keep the national grid stable, renewable energy must be stored somewhere and supplied reliably.

SA has made strides in integrating renewable energy into its power grid through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. Since 2010, this has attracted 110 private independent power projects that have invested R277.2 billion in renewable energy.

But SA's path to a sustainable energy future is complicated by problems with energy storage technologies.

As an electrical engineer and researcher, I focus on energy transitions and the various barriers to the renewable energy rollout across sub-Saharan Africa. My recent research investigates the role of energy storage in SA's energy transition.