Wind of change: Turbines next to an informal settlement in Gouda, Western Cape. Photo: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
Despite some of the negative environmental effects of renewables — such as the effect of their infrastructure on wildlife habitats and water systems — these electricity sources remain the cleanest alternatives to fossil fuels, a new report has found.
The report by think-tank REN21 Renewables says their benefits largely outweigh the negative impact.
However, it notes that although renewable energy sources, such as hydrogen, produce low levels of conventional air pollution and emissions, manufacturing and transporting them produces some emissions and pollutants.
Producing some photo-voltaic cells generates toxic substances that can contaminate water resources, with some technologies consuming significant quantities of water, disrupting land use and wildlife habitats.
But while fossil fuel operations and their extraction sites leave land polluted, degraded and depleted long after the facilities are decommissioned, renewables do not have long-term effects on land and water.
“Most renewable energy installations can co-exist with other uses like agriculture or fishing,” according to the report.
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has argued renewable energy alone was insufficient for the country’s energy needs and South Africa should therefore continue embracing fossil fuels.
Last year, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said renewable energy could not be the only solution for the country’s needs because of its unreliability.
“South Africa will continue to need coal-fired power stations to ensure the baseload of energy that renewables, though essential, cannot provide. If they can provide the baseload, let them invite me and show me what the solution is when there is no wind and there is no sun at night to keep the lights on,” he said.
Baseload is the minimum capacity required to supply the electrical grid at any given time.
The renewables sector has often been criticised by industry experts and the department of mineral resources and energy for being too costly and unaffordable to low-income people. Critics also say wind turbines pose a danger to birds which are often caught in them.
A study last year said that renewable energy sources in South Africa were insufficient to provide baseload for the country’s needs.
South Africans have been subjected to 16 years of load-shedding due to bad planning, a lack of maintenance and wholesale looting at Eskom and this has contributed towards anaemic economic growth.
Concerns about insufficient baseload have characterised discussions around renewable energy, specifically about what happens during peak demand periods when the sun isn’t shining and/or there is no wind.
There has also been debate about potential job losses if the country abandons fossil fuels. But Presidential Climate Commission executive director Crispian Olver recently told a public forum in Mpumalanga while the shift to cleaner energy sources would cause disruptions in the jobs market, new developments would address unemployment.
He added that solar and wind technology were becoming more affordable because of the technological innovation happening in the value chains linked to green energy.
The REN21 Renewables report called on public and private financial institutions to back renewable projects by channelling funds where they were most needed.
To grapple with the financial constraints hobbling the transition to renewable energy, countries at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last year pledged to provide $100 billion to nations affected by climate change.
“Industry players should fully embrace sustainability and actively avoid or mitigate possible negative impacts of renewable energy deployment while considering the perspectives and potential losses of possibly affected communities and the health of ecosystems,” the report said.
The renewable sector must pay attention to the careful placement of renewable energy infrastructure and the conservation of natural resources.
“Not only is it ethically right, but companies also have a commercial interest in preventing projects from being delayed, blocked and abandoned, which ultimately leads to economic losses and might fuel distrust in renewables,” it said.
Renewable energy would help decrease emissions as part of the Paris Agreement — a legally binding document signed by countries whose overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels”.
The question is no longer about the necessity of immediately deploying renewables but “rather it is about how to scale them rapidly and in ways that unlock their benefits and minimise potential negative impacts”, the report added.