Changelog
South Africa model (uncalibrated) added to Scenario Builder, with support for
capacity expansion and dispatch scenarios
Model scope
Capacity Expansion
- Base year: 2023
- End year: 2050
- Spatial resolution: National (1 node only)
- Temporal resolution:
- Low resolution (24-hourly and yearly) - 1 timeslice
- Medium resolution (3-hourly and 3-monthly) - 32 timeslices
Dispatch
- Spatial resolution:
- National (1-node)
- Temporal resolution:
- High resolution (hourly and single year) - 8760 timesteps
- Available for single years between 2023-2050
Data sourcing table
Several inputs are drawn from pypsa-rsa, the open-source South African capacity expansion model maintained by Meridian Economics.| Input variable | Data source | Data standard |
|---|---|---|
| Demand profiles - current | 2021 Eskom demand profile, as documented by pypsa-rsa. More recent data has been requested from Eskom and will be incorporated when it is received. | Silver |
| Demand profiles - future | Shape of the demand profile does not change in the future. | Bronze |
| Annual demand - current | 2023-2024: CSIR Utility Statistics Report (January 2025) | Gold |
| Annual demand - future | 2025-2050: CSIR historical demand, grown at the annual growth rates used by pypsa-rsa | Silver |
| Renewable profiles - current | 2021 Eskom renewables profile, as documented by pypsa-rsa. More recent data has been requested from Eskom and will be incorporated when it is received. | Silver |
| Renewable profiles - future | Shape of the renewable profiles does not change in the future. | Bronze |
| Renewable potentials | DST Bio Energy Atlas for South Africa (Hugo, W. (Ed.), 2016, Department of Science and Technology) and World Bank data, alongside existing and planned/target capacities | Silver |
| Technology costs - current | pypsa-rsa, AETOS, IEA World Energy Outlook 2024, DEA, and NREL | Silver |
| Technology costs - future | pypsa-rsa, AETOS, IEA World Energy Outlook 2024, DEA, and NREL | Silver |
| Commodity costs - current | pypsa-rsa and AETOS | Silver |
| Commodity costs - future | pypsa-rsa and AETOS | Silver |
| Efficiency / Losses | AETOS and IEA World Energy Outlook 2024 | Silver |
| Emission factors | AETOS | Silver |
| Operating life | AETOS | Silver |
| Minimum and maximum annual utilisation | AETOS | Silver |
| Ramp rates | pypsa-rsa | Silver |
| Storage maximum hours | AETOS | Silver |
| Discount rate | 8%, following pypsa-rsa | Silver |
| WACC | 10% per technology, assumed | Bronze |
| Reserve margin | 10%, following pypsa-rsa | Silver |
| Power plant data (installed capacity) | pypsa-rsa | Silver |
| Capacity expansion constraints | Existing assets are non-extendable: capacity additions are set to zero for all technologies in 2023-2025. All technologies are extendable beyond 2025, except electricity imports and exports. Annual capacity additions are limited by an assumed growth rate of 20-40% per technology, with a floor of 2% of total 2023 installed capacity (flat per technology). | Bronze |