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Technology roadmaps are critical for decisions pertaining to technology development. They have been utilised in the renewable energy sector to assist in filtering alternative technology options in order to support energy policy formulation, energy security and energy independence, among others. However, solar aided power generation is a recent concept and no roadmap has been developed for the technology as yet. This paper thus reviewed the literature related to roadmapping with the aim of understanding the methods and tools that have been utilised in other settings. Informed by the literature, a conceptual framework was developed, which was further utilised for the initial analysis for developing a roadmap for solar aided power generation in South Africa. Generally, it would be beneficial for South Africa to integrate solar aided power generation within its current Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) or the National Treasury Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme. However, it should be noted that this is only feasible in the short- and medium-term. In the long-term, there is a need to support stand-alone solar thermal technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African solar resource is vast. By utilising this resource effectively, concentrating solar power (CSP) offers the ability to efficiently store thermal energy until needed for electricity generation. This technology can therefore assist the total electricity system to link demand and supply. Nevertheless, CSP is still entering the commercialisation phase and, as the learning rate sets in, the cost is expected to decrease significantly; thus providing a dispatchable renewable energy option that is competitive with conventional options. A major dilemma needs to be overcome. Until sufficient CSP capacity is installed each year, the localisation potential, and the overall economic benefit for the country, will not materialise. This in turn could stall the technology. This paper presents a techno-economic scenario to show that a CSP industry can be established now that exceeds the threshold for setting up economies of scale, reduces the cost of electricity, and increases energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lauded Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) has achieved much in stimulating private sector investment in the renewable energy market in South Africa. Yet, 95% of electricity generated is still from a single source, the state-owned utility Eskom. This paper set out to explore the policy sphere governing electricity generation and identifying possible avenues that can contribute to a more vibrant solar energy market in the most solar abundant province of South Africa, the Northern Cape Province. Licensed mines were identified as low hanging fruit due to a large policy overlap and leeway within existing mining policy. A solar audit of these areas was performed, based on accepted multi-criteria decision analysis techniques, and found that a potential 369 TWh to 679 TWh per annum can be generated, exceeding South Africa's current electricity usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrating solar power (CSP) offers the value proposition of being a baseload and dispatchable renewable energy technology. CSP significantly lags behind solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power by cumulative capacity and cost for a number of reasons including the complicated nature of the technology and the traditional inability of the technology to be economically viable at smaller scales. The scaling limitation itself has prevented the technology from learning faster due to limited market share, which has inhibited the learning rate and continued to make CSP project financing difficult due to finance quantum risks. CSP has limited but successful lifecycle experience due to the SEGS I–IX plants commissioned between 1985 and 1990 in California. More recently, the technology benefited from competitive tariffs before the adoption of PV and learning rates undermined its growth. PV (as with wind) now offers some of the lowest electricity generating rates of any technology. While this is valuable, the marginal value of intermittent renewables is roughly inversely proportional to their share of the electricity system as their capacity credit diminishes with each addition to capacity, all other things equal. CSP with storage has the ability to flexibly deliver electricity and to do so 24 h a day in the right conditions. CSP plants with up to 15 h of full-load storage have now been commissioned and are demonstrating initial evidence that they can deliver to expectation. Despite the proposed value of CSP, it is not penetrating the market as expected. The value of electricity has simply not been valued for instance in the U.S. market to date, which has valued renewable targets above capacity needs. Sunny developing countries have been identified as potential growth markets due to capacity constraints and the avoided cost of electricity. Most recently, China has embarked on the greatest capacity growth of CSP in the decision to commission around 5 GW of CSP within the next 5 years with 1.35 GW assigned to be online by the end of 2018. Even with this evolution, CSP will still significantly lag other renewables. This review covers the system value and progress of CSP. An overall description of CSP and its value is followed by a broad review of CSP experience and research. A review of CSP in energy systems analysis is then provided to expose and quantify the marginal value of CSP. It is argued that improved quantification and accuracy in terms of energy systems analysis is an important step for CSP growth. The findings from the review show that CSP has potential to be the backbone of future electricity systems, but it needs to demonstrate value and acceptance to a broader audience than might be expected to achieve this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]