Berkeley Lab helps the South Africa Department of Energy save the equivalent of a 500 MW coal plant

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) of South Africa issued a revision of mandatory energy performance standards (MEPS) for seven appliances on February 17, 2020. This revision will result in savings of 3 terawatt-hours of electricity by 2040, representing the avoided capacity of a 500-megawatt thermal power plant and avoided emissions of 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂), equal to the annual emissions of Malta. This achievement contributes to the South African government’s international engagement in fighting against climate change through its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

Berkeley Lab has been working very closely with DMRE to provide technical assistance and to develop conjointly a tool to inform DMRE’s revision decisions. This collaboration led to the development of a new study that assesses the impact of South Africa’s Standards and Labeling program. The final report discusses the significant benefits within the next 20 years in terms of energy savings, mitigation of CO₂ emissions, water savings, air quality improvements and consumer’s electricity bill savings. It also shows that the government’s cost of saving 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) is 100 times less than the cost of supplying 1 kWh of electricity

The impacts assessment study is part of the Energy Efficiency for Development program (EE4D), a partnership between USAID and Berkeley Lab advance energy efficiency strategies in support of sustainability and economic development in partner countries.

The full report is available here.