South Africa is at a pivotal moment in its energy transition: trying to decarbonise its economy (move away from coal) and make sure 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.
The country has already 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 (US$14.6 billion) in renewable energy.
But South Africa’s path to a sustainable energy future is complicated by problems with energy storage technologies.
