South Africa is one of the countries globally that are best endowed with solar resources, while the wind resources in the country are also excellent. This in combination with vast space availability, which is required for both solar and wind power generation, puts South Africa in an excellent position to drive a renewables-based energy system.

CSIR work in this area focuses on:

Resource assessment: For all renewable sources, the quantification of the available resource in a high spatial and temporal resolution, based on historical data and forecasted into the long-term future, is an essential foundation for the creation of a renewables-based energy system.

Resource forecasting (short term): For solar and wind, because they have no inherent energy storage link, forecasting of short-term supply of these two sources is essential for a reliable operation of the energy system.

Technology performance, testing and verification: The performance of renewables technologies under South African conditions needs to be understood, measured, tested and verified.

Technology system integration: The design of solar, wind, biomass energy, power generators and systems and their integration into the local energy grid – which includes the performance of such power generators from a utility-interface perspective – are relevant topics for successful system integration.

Technology-specific research: This research either focuses on increasing the performance of certain technologies (improving technical efficiency and performance) or on the more cost-efficient production of the technologies (reducing costs and increasing quality).

Related projects:

• Development of a power system operator model for short-term variable renewable energy forecasting