Industrial and commercial opportunities to utilise concentrating solar thermal systems in South Africa

Abstract

A solar energy technology roadmap has been developed for South Africa. The roadmap lists a number of technological systems that fulfil three requirements from a South African perspective. First, they have clearly been demonstrated or commercialised. Second, a local industry could be stimulated including the potential to export, with associate socio-economic growth; and the other requirements of government can be met in terms of improving energy security and access, and addressing climate change. Third, they have a medium to high R&D intensity, in terms of available capacity and associate resources needed to support the further development of the technological systems. Concentrated Solar Thermal systems feature prominently in the list of technologies. These systems can generate electrical power, then referred to as Concentrating Solar Power systems, typically in the 1 to 100 MW range for on- and off-grid applications. They can also simply produce heat, typically in the 100 to 1000ºC range, primarily for commercial and industrial process applications. This paper discusses the international trends and drivers for these systems to generate power and heat, and then focuses on the specific potential in the South African context. A number of barriers to realizing the potential are discussed and recommendations are made accordingly to stimulate the growth of this industry sector in South Africa.