Legislation governing the implementation of small-scale hydropower projects for rural electrification in South Africa
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Date
Authors
Scharfetter, Beate
Van Dijk, Marco
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Research Energy Centre of the University of Cape Town
Abstract
The Department of Energy’s ‘new household electrification
strategy’ allows for any appropriate and
affordable technology option to be applied towards
achieving South Africa’s non-grid electrification target
of 300 000 households over the period 2014 to
2025. This paper describes the main legislative and
regulatory framework governing the implementation
of small-scale hydropower (SHP) projects in
South Africa with the aim of attaining the objectives
of the non-grid electrification component of the
‘new household electrification strategy’, and indicates
that it is possible to implement such projects
within South Africa’s complex institutional architecture.
The inclusion of run-of-river type small-scale
hydropower projects for rural electrification in the
2016 updated General Authorisation eased the process
of attaining regulatory compliance in terms the
National Water Act. This implies that these types of
SHP projects would only need to follow a registration
process to obtain the required water use authorisation,
and not a full water use licence application
process.
Description
Keywords
Non-grid electrification, Regulatory requirements, General authorisation, Household electrification strategy
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Scharfetter, B. & Van Dijk, M. 2017, 'Legislation governing the implementation of small-scale hydropower projects for rural electrification in South Africa', Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 14-28.