ENERGY SECURITY: ESTABLISHING A LOW CARBON ENERGY MIX AND ROADMAPS TO CARBON NEUTRALITY IN ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION FOR AIRPORTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Establishing a low carbon energy mix for developing countries is a multidimensional challenge and most organisations that embark on such a challenge are not successful and find themselves either reverting to paying for energy that is not guaranteed, or relying on a developing market of private energy service providers usually in the renewable energy sector involving South Africa's wind and solar energy independent power producers. The challenges associated with establishing power generation that is quite different from the established power generation energy sources stems from unfamiliar power generation technologies, technology markets, skills for operations and maintenance. These challenges have the common ground of increased relative cost and business risk. This paper presents the process for the establishment of energy generation technologies forming a low carbon energy mix that is economically feasible and technically suited to the operating environment to ensure a reliable and feasible transition for nine airports in South Africa to realise energy security.