South Africa has approved the implementation of the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), to boost energy security and broader industrial growth.
The plan seeks to address challenges associated with local capacity, infrastructure and investment by providing a roadmap for developing renewable energy and battery storage technologies.
It identifies a clear pathway to advancing power projects for investors as South African electricity demand is expected to rise two-fold by 2040.
South Africa targets ambitious growth across its renewable energy market, striving to strengthen grid resilience through large-scale investments in generation and transmission infrastructure.
Led by policies such as the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) – revised in 2023 – the country envisages 29.5 GW of new capacity by 2030. Of this, 14.4 GW will be derived from wind, while 6 GW comes from solar. The latest procurement round of the IRP targets 6.8 GW of renewable energy, 3 GW of natural gas and 1.5 GW of coal.
To realise these goals, SAREM aims to leverage rising demand for renewable energy and storage technologies, with a focus on solar, wind, lithium-ion battery, and vanadium-based battery technologies, to drive industrial development in South Africa.
The masterplan is anchored on four primary areas: supporting local demand for renewable energy and storage by unlocking system readiness; driving industrial development by building renewable energy and battery storage value chains; fostering inclusive development by driving the transformation of the industry; and building local capabilities in terms of skills and technological innovation.
The SAREM is expected to fuel the already-growing South African renewable energy market. The SAREM will support growth by facilitating partnerships across the value chain and implementing targeted training programs while addressing challenges associated with regulatory barriers.
While the SAREM provides significant benefits to the renewable energy landscape, Cabinet has directed that additional work be done on the masterplan to incentivise investors to fund projects. This includes the development of green hydrogen to meet international obligations of 5 per cent blended fuel in the aviation and maritime sectors by 2030.
