Energy poverty is a multifaceted and urgent issue in the Global South, especially in South Africa, where, despite an electrification rate exceeding 90%, a substantial 40% of the population still experiences energy poverty. This paper presents a systematic review of literature on energy poverty in South Africa, covering the period from 1994 to 2023. The review identifies eleven key themes that offer a multi-dimensional perspective on such energy poverty. It offers insights into addressing critical issues for advancing an equitable and just energy system. Understanding the extent and nature of energy poverty could facilitate a deeper understanding of (in)justices entrenched in South Africa's socio-technical energy system, for policymakers, practitioners and experts alike. Energy justice is employed as an analytical framework to examine the implications of energy poverty through the lenses of restorative, distributive, procedural, and recognitional justice. The analysis seeks to contribute to South Africa's just transition (JT) Framework, which currently addresses energy poverty primarily as a matter of restorative justice. South Africa's just energy transition cannot be achieved in an inclusive and transformative manner without accounting for multifaceted dynamics at the household level; here, energy poverty serves to bring about a more intersectional focus on the justice dimensions inherent in energy transitions. The findings underscore the need to address energy poverty at the household level, where it intersects with broader socio-technical dynamics. Such a multi-dimensional perspective on energy poverty in South Africa could help to inform targeted policies and initiatives to meet the specific needs of energy-poor households, while broader socio-technical changes are accelerated as part of the energy transition, thus more strongly meeting the goals spelled out in the JT Framework. ... Read more

The aim of this Work Package 6 (WP6) report is to describe and analyze insights from Interreg North Sea WaterWarmth demonstration pilots. Specifically, WP6 examines the pilots' innovation and governance arrangements that help implementation and scaling of aqua thermal energy (AE) systems in real-world contexts. The work is therefore primarily based on lessons learned through a mixed methods approach with the Interreg North Sea WaterWarmth project pilots. To help address the shortage of knowledge on innovation of AE systems, this report builds on frameworks previously used in WP6 work (see Deliverable 6.1; Hoppe et al., 2024) where a mapping of theoretical frameworks and a typology to analyze governance of AE and other heating systems was performed. Particularly, we are applying three of the approaches and theoretical frameworks from Deliverable 6.1 from various scholarly backgrounds. For example, the multi-level perspective (MLP) and Strategic Niche Management (SNM) have a background in Science-and Technology Systems studies, Transition Studies and Evolutionary Economics, while Governance Arrangements (GA) has its roots in Governance and Policy Studies. As the focus of this report is on bottom-up niche level developments, we use concepts from SNM involving voicing and shaping of expectations, network formation, and learning. The pilots are implemented under societal conditions and hence also influenced by the existing heating regimes. Therefore, we address challenges and tensions, which we assume indicates incumbent regime influence that often hinders AE innovation development applying the MLP. Finally, we are interested in what role governance, and more specifically, regulation plays in pilots. This refers to organization authority and legitimacy, the role of government, and policy instruments like regulations, permit systems, and/ or subsidies. ... Read more

The aim of this WaterWarmth project Work Package 6.1 report is to present a number of relevant frameworks available to analyse and/or assess the governance of current heating systems and future energy system innovation, in particular with a focus on aquathermal energy (AE) systems. At the basis of the report was a broad survey of the academic and other literature by project researchers on ways to conceptualise the greater use of AE energy systems in the European Union. To keep the report succinct, and based on discussions by WaterWarmth project researchers, we have decided to present a combination of theoretical approaches to frame and understand AE system transitions instead of the broad collection of frameworks and theories that exist today. These are the Multi-Level Perspective, Strategic Niche Management, Contextual Interaction Theory, the Governance of Change and Community Energy Systems. The report contributes to the project by providing a strategic way to understand renewable energy transition processes, and more specifically, pathways for how AE systems can play a more significant role in a renewable energy system transition in the North Sea Region and beyond. The result is a heuristic that allows practitioners to discover how AE system developments in particular places can be viewed in a broader energy system transition context, the measures that may be needed to guide the transition process, and to gain a deeper understanding about the motivations, cognitions and resources of the actors involved in the energy transition process.

To demonstrate the proposed frameworks, we exemplify using two case studies: AE system development at the household in Sweden, and AE transitions in the Fryslân region, in the Netherlands. For the Swedish case we use the Multi-level Perspective (MLP) framework to provide the background of the niche, landscape level and the socio-technical regime which illustrate the influence of policies and regulations, as well as technologies and markets. For the Netherlands case, we place a stronger emphasis on Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) framework to analyse how the different actors and their characteristics such as motivations, cognitions and resources influence the interaction process in the planning and implementation of AE systems projects. Using the CIT, we are also able to assess how the specific, structural and wider contexts influence the implementation process as well as how the actors interact with each other. Each case provides a unique structuring, both enablers and hindrances, of the institutional and governance dynamics for AE system innovations in their respective countries. Extending from the exemplary studies, we lastly discuss each of the cases as well as broader insights gained when using the approach, and what it can mean for broader AE system transitions in the European Union.

This report is intended for multiple audiences including but not limited to practitioners aiming to develop AE systems, academics interested in assessing governance processes around AE system development, policy-makers interested in policies and decision-making to promote AE system development.
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This chapter provides an overview of energy poverty in South Africa through a sample of electrified low-income households in one municipality located in the heart of the country's coal region. Despite democracy and the many policies in place to redress the injustices of the Apartheid regime, the country continues to have extremely high levels of poverty, energy poverty, inequality, and unemployment.

Even though 87% of the population has access to electricity connections, most households cannot afford to use sufficient electricity to meet their basic energy needs, and almost half of all households are considered energy poor. The challenge is not just about access to electricity but also about affordability. Many of the policies currently in place to alleviate energy poverty and poverty have not yielded the results hoped for. This is understood within the framework of an energy-intensive political economy that has been built around coal and coal fired electricity production. ... Read more