South Africa's electrification is still improvable, especially in rural areas. In the Eastern Cape, for example, 25% of the communities will only be connected to the national grid in 8 to 15 years. Due to the high sunshine duration, solar energy offers a special potential for electricity generation in South Africa. As part of the German Government and Federal State Pilot Programme (BLP), Lower Saxony was involved in a cooperation project in which a small hybrid power grid (minigrid) was built in the pilot municipality of Upper Blinkwater in the Eastern Cape.
This successor project aims at strengthening the scientific and practical skills required for planning and operating decentralised renewable energy systems. A monitoring system for the minigrid in Upper Blinkwater will provide practical insights into the technical requirements for creating a sustainable, decentralised energy supply and the necessary framework conditions for its implementation in other regions.