The Living Energy Lab Platform (Virtual Tour) is an advanced technology research platform on the CSIR Pretoria campus used to test, optimise, pilot and demonstrate modern approaches to energy transition.

Africa suffers from low energy access and weak, unreliable grid systems, thus affecting regional economic development, constraining the quality of life of its citizens. South Africa’s energy access reflects significant progress in that only some 10% of the population still does not have access to electricity. The CSIR contributes to the  solutions for energy access through embedded generation, integrated with energy storage. The platform emphasises testing, development, demonstration and deployment. It will produce new skills, address challenges for new technology development and deployment, assist with new knowledge generation  whilst it  help cultivate distributed and embedded energy system entrepreneurs.

In addition to grid-scale, industrial and commercial level systems integration, the CSIR has a solar PV testing lab to study the coupling of solar PV with energy storage for peri-urban, township and rural communities.

Capabilities

Electric mobility platform

• Charging infrastructure and monitoring
• Electric vehicle integration to transport
   

Recycling

• Lithium-ion battery recycling
• PV module recycling
   

LELP supports local manufacturers of new localised energy storage systems and components with:

• A smart grid laboratory that performs real-time digital simulations;
• Various technologies (e.g. inverters) related to microgrids;
• Technology localisation for local technology development (e.g. low-cost microgrid controller) for niche (remote applications) applications in Africa;
• Expertise from the Next Generation Energy Index on transactive microgrids (DLT, IoT, AI, AR) will be a central service microgrid-as-a-service offering; and
• Delivering testing infrastructure for existing (Bushveld Minerals for Redox Flow Batteries) and new companies (The Megamillion Company – Lithium-ion batteries) that support innovation in the field of energy storage and microgrids, i.e., localisation.
   

Facilities

• Renewable energy technology research and testing facilities
• Real-world PV testing laboratory
• Energy storage testbeds