Leveraging South Africa’s renewable energy initiative to revitalise Merafong City’s distressed mining township economies

Abstract

This oversight engenders and promotes pro-market, favouring well-established private sector businesses to submit tenders as Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Consequently, it fails to create an enabling environment for local government to leverage South Africa’s REI4P as an LED initiative to revitalize distressed mining township economies, such as those in Merafong City. This policy brief outlines the potential and strategies for leveraging the REI4P to revitalize distressed mining township economies, utilizing township-based SMMEs as rooftop solar photovoltaic SSEEGs.