Renewable Energy Solution for Electricity Access in Rural South Africa

South Africa has grown from 34% electrification in 1991 to about 84.7% electrification presently, but with least access to electricity in rural areas. The lower rate of electrification in rural areas than urban areas has made dwellers in rural unelectrified areas to be challenged economically, socially, educationally, health-wise, etc. The aging, unclean, nonrenewable and constrained traditional grid has necessitated to think out of the box for universal electricity access in the nation through renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar, wind, biomass, and hydro for rural electrification. Therefore, a RES-powered microgrid is designed for rural Jozini municipality with 26.3% electricity access. This proposed Jozini microgrid was found to have a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of R0.384/kWh, which is about one-third of grid LCOE in South Africa. Also, the proposed Jozini microgrid has 0 kg/kWh CO2 emission compared to 0.99 kg/kWh CO2 emission from the traditional national grid.