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There have been a lot of reforms that have been passed, but there’s still a lot more to be done There’s a huge peak in investment opportunities in South Africa’s energy sector. This was heard at a recent Enlit Africa webinar, hosted by ESI Africa, which delved into dynamic opportunities in Africa’s power, energy, and water sectors for German companies. Forming part of the panel were James Mckay, CEO of the Energy Council of South Africa; Matthew Le Cordeur, Just Energy Transition (JET) research manager at Krutham; and Marco Rahner, Sales Director, Smart Infrastructure at Siemens. Mckay spoke about 2023 loadshedding woes, calling them the darkest hours of the country. However, he added that there was a silver lining in the end. “Those loadshedding days gave birth to partnerships between the government and the business sector in South Africa,” he explained. The Energy Council CEO said there was a significant focus, which had never existed before, on solving the problem that led to joint operations to tackle loadshedding. “It is an effort that has led us to now (over 300) days without loadshedding in the country. Mckay touched on concerns around JET and green energy skills in the country: “These have been identified and are being addressed through collaboration between the government and the private sector.” Energy investment landscape of South Africa Le Cordeur touched on the key development reforms that are shaping South Africa’s energy investment landscape. “There have been a lot of reforms that have been passed, but there’s still a lot more to be done. We’re all aiming for a liberalised electricity market that includes the unbundling of Eskom,” he said. Rahner added that they’have identified many opportunities not only in South Africa but in the continent at large. He stated that they are working on upcoming solar and battery storage projects, which will be launched in 2027. “Investment is huge on the continent; we see opportunities, and there’s a huge peak in business, investments, private IPPs, markets starting to open, and different power pools starting to open with not just solar but also batteries. “We see a lot of possibilities in all different sizes of installations. We see the business going in a coordinated way,” he explained. |
