Browsing by Author "Murray, Andrew"

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    The blockchain-energy nexus
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Murray, Andrew; Swilling, Mark; Davies, Megan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: South Africa needs to transition away from a fossil fuel-intensive energy system if it is to reduce its carbon emissions. There is both a need for the development of renewable energy technologies, and for systems to manage electricity flows in municipal distribution networks which increasingly comprise buildings with private generation such as roof-mounted solar panels. Blockchain has the potential to address both needs. How blockchain applications can form part of the dominant South African energy regime are largely unknown, as are the implications of doing so. Research has shown that blockchain can be used to crowd-finance renewable energy projects and to manage electricity trading between small-scale producers and consumers of electricity. This study aims to understand how an existing Sun Exchange solar project finance blockchain application has been developed and integrated into the South African energy system and what its impacts are. It further aims to determine the viability and prospects of blockchain-based electricity trading in South Africa. Contributing to the research on the applicability of blockchain in the South African energy system, the research asks: How is the project finance innovation developing and integrating into the South African energy system, and is there potential for it to form part of a new dominant regime? Is also asks: Is there potential for blockchain-based electricity trading in South Africa, how can it be developed, and how might it affect the energy system? To answer the research questions a review of the literature on energy transitions, the South African energy system, blockchain technology, and theories of multi-level perspective and strategic niche management which explore sociotechnical regime transitions, was conducted. A participative case study was used to research the Sun Exchange organisation and its blockchain-based solar project finance innovation. Interviews were conducted to research the viability and prospects of blockchain-based electricity trading in South Africa. The case study revealed that Sun Exchange uses many developmental best practices proposed by the strategic niche management theory for its project finance innovation. It also identified that it would be beneficial for the organisation to constantly question underlying assumptions regarding which type of blockchain it uses due to the evolving nature of the technology. The case study further revealed it is unlikely that the project finance innovation will form part of the dominant energy regime in South Africa if the barrier which currently limits Sun Exchange projects to a maximum size of 10 Megawatts (MW), is not overcome. The interviews revealed that there is potential for the development of a blockchain-based electricity trade application and that the most viable way for it to be incorporated into the energy system would be if it were implemented by municipalities that own their distribution networks for managing electricity trading. Such an application seems to have many positive implications, particularly for municipalities, consumers, and developers of renewable energy technologies, and for reducing the country’s carbon emissions. Barriers to the integration of the application were identified as primarily relating to legislation. It is recommended that a public-private partnership be initiated for the development of the application and that further research be conducted to establish exactly which organisations could contribute to this collaboration and how it could be financed, developed, and integrated into the dominant energy regime.