This paper evaluates the key features of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers’ Programme (RE IPPPP).

It builds on previous studies of its negotiation and implementation and unpacks the different levels of the programme and the diversity of players involved in it. It explores mechanisms for renewable technology diffusion, debates over ‘favourable’ policy in emerging markets and the global development of wind and solar PV industries. The authors further highlight key tensions inherent in RE IPPPP between commercial priorities for ‘bankability’ under the norms and demands of project finance, and the requirements for economic development and community ownership, to which definitions and perceptions of risk are central.

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