Electrification has not yet been achieved everywhere in South Africa and communities in more rural areas will only be connected to the grid gradually over the next few years. Local grids, so-called minigrids, which are based on renewable energy, can offer an alternative option for a decentralised, sustainable energy supply.
As part of the long-standing cooperation between the federal state of Lower Saxony and the province of Eastern Cape, a pilot project to set up a minigrid was launched in 2017 as part of the BLP pilot programme. Following the construction and commissioning of the 75 KwH minigrid annex and the electricity grid in 2019, 57 households have access to electricity in Upper Blinkwater. At the same time, based on the national tariff system, a fair, sustainable and simple operator model was developed together with the village community and a monitoring system was set up by the Institute of Networked Energy Systems of the German Aerospace Centre in cooperation with local scientific institutions, which collects reliable data and can be used for remote monitoring and control of the system by the community but also by other institutions, e.g. for research purposes. The data will be used to transfer the experience gained from the pilot project in Upper Blinkwater to other regions in South Africa. To ensure long-term operation, the municipality and its administration have been well trained in maintenance, servicing and data analysis.
Due to the special characteristics of the minigrid as a pilot project, the UNDP-funded South Africa Wind Energy Programme (SAWEP) has added a mini wind turbine with a performance of 21 KwH to test the possibilities of using wind energy to support a demarcated energy system.
The pilot project in the village of Upper Blinkwater in the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality (RMLM) demonstrates that minigrids are ideal for providing reliable and environmentally friendly power to remote communities and can serve as a blueprint for replication in Southern Africa. The lessons learnt from the pilot project have been summarised in this brochure.