In 2020, the country’s electricity demanded was 326,256 GWh whilst electricity supplied was only 196,650 GHw.

Due to Eskom not rising to the challenge, both public and private sector players have been challenged to join the energy generation sector to help alleviate this problem. In Q2 2021, the government amended the Electricity Regulation Act to increase self-generating capacity to 100MW, thus encouraging independent power and renewable energy producers to plug the demand gap.

Our study explores South Africa’s Waste Energy industry, particularly the feasibility, future growth prospects and business models that can be leveraged to progress the market. Waste to energy refers to a variety of treatment technologies that convert waste to electricity, heat, fuel, or other usable forms of energy. Solid waste is burnt to produce steam in a boiler that is used to generate electrcity. Waste to energy is an option worth considering to avert both the energy and waste crises the country is facing. The electrcity supply and demand gap can be narrowed by using the existing waste through thermal waste-to-energy plants or through biogas.