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South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. Thesis (DAdmin)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. Sustainable devl plan&man
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| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2021
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| _version_ | 1867614095389229056 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Davies, Megan Lynne |
| author2 | Swilling, Mark |
| author_browse | Davies, Megan Lynne Swilling, Mark |
| author_facet | Swilling, Mark Davies, Megan Lynne |
| author_sort | Davies, Megan Lynne |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.
Thesis (DAdmin)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. Sustainable devl plan&man |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/109837 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:35.680Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/109837 South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme Davies, Megan Lynne Swilling, Mark Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership. Sustainability transitions -- South Africa Energy development -- South Africa Environmental economics -- South Africa Energy democracy -- South Africa Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. Thesis (DAdmin)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. Sustainable devl plan&man ENGLISH SUMMARY : South Africa is uniquely positioned in the unfolding global energy transition and the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), launched in 2011, has made South Africa a RE frontrunner in the global South. As this thesis will demonstrate, the (laudable) concession by policymakers to include economic development (ED) in the configuration of the procurement programme set the REIPPPP on a trajectory that would trigger irrepressible tensions in South Africa’s political economy of energy. In this thesis, I investigate the manifold socio-technical interferences (that is, the tensions and unintended consequences) unleashed by the REIPPPP. I respond to the question of how, and to what extent, the REIPPPP has catalysed South Africa’s transition to energy democracy. I do so by means of a transdisciplinary research methodology where the qualitative inquiry was shaped by the ambition of ‘practicing social science that matters’. To make sense of the maelstrom that is South Africa’s nascent energy transition, I present a multi-scalar account which moves from an overview of the dimensions of the global energy transition, to an exploration of the national energy policy context, before zooming in on the grounded, local dynamics of the REIPPPP via a case study of the ZF Mgcawu District Development Coordinating Forum, an experimental governance arrangement in the Northern Cape Province. I do so by deliberately using the framing of ‘energy democracy’, which I employ as a strategic and normative orientation because it conceptualises a developmental approach to the energy transition. As I will demonstrate, the energy democracy perspective is instructive for interpreting, and indeed leveraging, the developmental potential inscribed in the REIPPPP’s rules. I further employ a theory of socio-technical change that functions as a conceptual framework emphasising the centrality of governance and policy in sustainability transitions. This framing underscores how socio-technical change is the outcome of the experimental practices of societal actors to encode normative goals of positive and desirable futures into the policy assemblages and governance practices deployed by diverse coalitions of actors to marshal the requisite resources and expertise to shape and steer collective action. The inquiry into the nature of South Africa’s unfolding energy transition reveals the co-existence of two different logics according to which the REIPPPP, as a policy assemblage, was designed and implemented, namely, the corporate and social logics of RE development. The analysis in this thesis traces the historical emergence and resultant antinomies of these two logics of RE development and how they shaped the conditions of possibility according to which the REIPPPP was assembled. I submit that the REIPPPP in its current formulation (assembled as a blend between the corporate and social logics) is not sufficient for realising the dual imperatives of decarbonisation and development thereby meaningfully advancing energy democracy in South Africa. I argue that the specific ‘rules of the game’ shaping this energy transition play a substantial role in limiting South Africa’s prospects for energy democracy. Moreover, the extent to which these ‘rules of the game’ continue to be based upon an imbalance between the corporate and social logics, further limits these prospects. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Suid-Afrika is uniek geposisioneer in die ontvouende wêreldwye energie-oorgang en die onafhanklike hernubare- elektrisiteitsverskaffer-verkrygingsprogram ("REIPPPP"), wat in 2011 van stapel gestuur is, maak van Suid-Afrika ’n voorloper op die gebied van hernubare energie (HE) in die wêreldwye Suide. Soos hierdie tesis sal demonstreer, is die REIPPPP, deur die (lofwaardige) toegewing deur beleidmakers om ekonomiese ontwikkeling by die samestelling van die verkrygingsprogram in te sluit, op ’n trajek geplaas wat onherroeplike spanning in Suid-Afrika se politieke ekonomie van energie tot gevolg gehad het. In hierdie tesis ondersoek ek die veelvuldige sosio-tegniese steurings (dit wil sê, die spanning en onbedoelde gevolge) wat ontketen is deur die implementering van Suid-Afrika se eerste program vir hernubare energie op nutskaal. Ek antwoord die vraag rakende hoe en tot watter mate die REIPPPP Suid-Afrika se oorgang tot energiedemokrasie gekataliseer het. Ek doen dit deur middel van ’n transdissiplinêre navorsingsmetodiek waar die kwalitatiewe ondersoek gevorm is deur die ambisie om ‘sosiale wetenskap wat saak maak’ te beoefen. Om sin te maak van die maalstroom van Suid-Afrika se ontluikende energie-oorgang, bied ek ’n veelskaalse verslag aan wat wissel van die wêreldwye energie-oorgang tot ’n spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse gevallestudie. Die verslag bied ’n oorsig van die Suid-Afrikaanse energie-oorgang met behulp van die volgende skale: die dimensies van die wêreldwye energie-oorgang en die konteks van die nasionale energiebeleid en dan, meer spesifiek, die gegronde, plaaslike dinamika van die REIPPPP deur middel van ’n gevallestudie van die ZF Mgcawu Distrik-ontwikkelingskoördineringsforum, ’n eksperimentele bestuurstruktuur in die Noord-Kaap. Ek gebruik die konsep van ‘energiedemokrasie’ doelbewus as ’n strategiese en normatiewe oriëntasie omdat dit ’n ontwikkelingsbenadering aan die energie-oorgang verleen. Soos ek sal demonstreer, bied die energiedemokrasieperspektief insig op die interpretasie en gebruikmaking van die ontwikkelingspotensiaal wat in die REIPPPP se reëls vervat is. Verder maak ek gebruik van ’n relasionele teorie van sosio-tegniese verandering wat dien as ’n konseptuele raamwerk wat die sentrale rol van bestuur en beleid in volhoubaarheidsoorgange beklemtoon. Hierdie benadering benadruk hoe sosio-tegniese verandering die resultaat van die eksperimentele praktyke van spesifieke samelewingsakteurs is. Dit is deur middel van eksperimentele praktyke wat samelewingsakteurs poog om die normatiewe doelwitte van ’n positiewe en wenslike toekoms in die beleidsamestellings en bestuurspraktyke, wat deur uiteenlopende koalisies van akteurs gebruik word om die nodige hulpbronne en kundigheid te versamel om kollektiewe optrede te vorm en te stuur, te kodeer. Die ondersoek na die aard van Suid-Afrika se ontvouende energie-oorgang onthul die saambestaan van twee verskillende logika waarvolgens die REIPPPP as beleidsamestelling ontwerp en geïmplementeer is, naamlik, die korporatiewe en sosiale logika van HE-ontwikkeling. Die analise in hierdie tesis volg die spoor van die historiese ontstaan en die gevolglike antinomieë van bogenoemde twee logika van HE-ontwikkeling, asook hoe beide logika bygedra het tot die moontlikheidsvoorwaardes waarvolgens die REIPPPP saamgestel is. Ek argumenteer dat die REIPPPP in sy huidige formulering (saamgestel as ’n mengsel van die korporatiewe en sosiale logika) nie voldoende is vir die verwesenliking van die tweedoelige imperatiewe van dekarbonisering en ontwikkeling en, sodoende, betekenisvolle bydrae tot die bevordering van energiedemokrasie in Suid-Afrika maak nie. Verder argumenteer ek dat die ‘spelreëls’ wat in hierdie geval die aard van die energie-oorgang bepaal, ’n beduidende rol speel in die beperking van Suid-Afrika se vooruitsigte op energiedemokrasie. Bowendien word hierdie vooruitsigte verder beperk deur die mate waartoe hierdie ‘spelreëls’ aanhoudend gebaseer word op ’n wanbalans tussen die korporatiewe en sosiale logika. Doctoral 2021-03-05T05:06:48Z 2021-04-21T14:28:20Z 2021-03-05T05:06:48Z 2021-04-21T14:28:20Z 2021-03 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109837 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xiv, 257 pages ; illustrations, includes annexures application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Sustainability transitions -- South Africa Energy development -- South Africa Environmental economics -- South Africa Energy democracy -- South Africa Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme -- South Africa UCTD Davies, Megan Lynne South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title | South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title_full | South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title_fullStr | South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title_full_unstemmed | South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title_short | South Africa's contested transition to energy democracy : lessons and struggles from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme |
| title_sort | south africa s contested transition to energy democracy lessons and struggles from the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme |
| topic | Sustainability transitions -- South Africa Energy development -- South Africa Environmental economics -- South Africa Energy democracy -- South Africa Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109837 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT daviesmeganlynne southafricascontestedtransitiontoenergydemocracylessonsandstrugglesfromtherenewableenergyindependentpowerproducerprocurementprogramme |