{"title":"The land use impact of renewable energy sprawl in South Africa","authors":"V. T. Gaeatlholwe, K. Langerman","doi":"10.1080/03736245.2022.2129769","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The share of renewable energy is expected to increase in South Africa’s energy mix. Motivated by concerns about renewable energy sprawl, this study quantifies the current and future (2050) land requirements for electricity generation in South Africa and evaluates the likely impact on natural biomes. Currently, around 340 km2 has been transformed for electricity generation (mainly coal-powered) and an additional 1 400 km2 is used for spacing requirements. Direct land use is expected to increase to 755–1080 km2 by 2050, and spacing requirements will increase to 10 700–16 750 km2 (0.9–1.4% of South Africa’s land area). South Africa has excellent potential for renewable energy generation, with 36% and 57% of the land area being suitable for solar and wind development, respectively. Assuming that future developments are built on the most suitable land in the Renewable Energy Development Zones, the Nama-Karoo Biome will be most affected. It is concluded that concerns about renewable energy sprawl should not limit South Africa’s renewable energy capacity expansion plans.","PeriodicalId":46279,"journal":{"name":"South African Geographical Journal","volume":"69 1","pages":"365 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South African Geographical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03736245.2022.2129769","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
ABSTRACT The share of renewable energy is expected to increase in South Africa’s energy mix. Motivated by concerns about renewable energy sprawl, this study quantifies the current and future (2050) land requirements for electricity generation in South Africa and evaluates the likely impact on natural biomes. Currently, around 340 km2 has been transformed for electricity generation (mainly coal-powered) and an additional 1 400 km2 is used for spacing requirements. Direct land use is expected to increase to 755–1080 km2 by 2050, and spacing requirements will increase to 10 700–16 750 km2 (0.9–1.4% of South Africa’s land area). South Africa has excellent potential for renewable energy generation, with 36% and 57% of the land area being suitable for solar and wind development, respectively. Assuming that future developments are built on the most suitable land in the Renewable Energy Development Zones, the Nama-Karoo Biome will be most affected. It is concluded that concerns about renewable energy sprawl should not limit South Africa’s renewable energy capacity expansion plans.
期刊介绍：
The South African Geographical Journal was founded in 1917 and is the flagship journal of the Society of South African Geographers. The journal aims at using southern Africa as a region from, and through, which to communicate geographic knowledge and to engage with issues and themes relevant to the discipline. The journal is a forum for papers of a high academic quality and welcomes papers dealing with philosophical and methodological issues and topics of an international scope that are significant for the region and the African continent, including: Climate change Environmental studies Development Governance and policy Physical and urban Geography Human Geography Sustainability Tourism GIS and remote sensing
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