A vision for a United States of Africa has been advocated since the dawn of independence by, among others, pioneers like Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Julius Nyerere. More recently the idea gained new momentum, through such initiatives as the New Partnership for African Development...

This paper presents the design of flywheel rotor prototypes developed to enhance rural energisation in sub-Saharan Africa. The flywheel rotors are made from locally available fibre and epoxy resin. The profiles were designed using novel shape profiles based on Berger, Porat and Stodola’s...

Integrated resource planning (IRP) of power generation and delivery characterized by higher penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) has taken the 21st century world by storm. It promises power markets that are more resilient to resource and capital cost uncertainties as well as...

The South African solar map has been redrawn to make it applicable to photovoltaic installations. This has been done with the aim of reducing the cost of solar PV installations in South Africa through accurate energy resource assessment and competent system design. Climate data software as well...

Energy efficiency is one of the most potent and cost effective ways of meeting the demands of sustainable development. It has in fact been referred to as the best energy resource. Way back in 2005 the South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) published its Energy Efficiency Strategy...

The challenges faced by the socio-political economy of South Africa when attempting to diversify away from a legacy of over a century of near exclusive dependence on cheap and abundant coal for its energy needs, particularly electricity, are discussed in this paper. Existing government policy...