Abstract:
The current decision-making processes that are involved in Environmental Impact
Assessments in the energy sector of South Africa suffer from, amongst others, the lack of
coherence and the integration of the opinions of decision-makers1 in the assessments. The
processes also do not adequately evaluate the trade-offs between social, economic,
political and environmental issues that are identified for proposed projects, and
alternatives if applicable. This paper demonstrates the application of a multi-criteria
analysis approach to address these challenges. The application is based on a proposed
concentrating solar power plant, for which the Environmental Impact Assessment process
has been completed.
