Many countries in Southern Africa face power shortages. Electricity supply shortfalls present challenges to businesses, which produce and supply goods and services as well as create jobs. Southern Africa’s high solar photovoltaic power potential, coupled with decreasing solar equipment costs, provides an opportunity for investments in small-scale distributed generation to mitigate unpredictable supply. Small-scale distributed generation provides a more reliable power supply due to generation taking place at the point of consumption and usually comes from renewable energy sources. This report reviews the regulatory and tariff frameworks for small-scale distributed generation, focused specifically on commercial and industrial sectors, in six southern African countries: Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The report presents the economic and financial drivers and provides specific country-level recommendations to advance small-scale distributed generation.
