The world, including Africa, is facing a major international political event of “seismic proportions”, South African Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa highlighted in his keynote address to the Africa Energy Indaba 2025 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on Tuesday. Although he carefully named no names, he was undoubtedly referring to the dramatic upheavals in international politics being caused by the new administration in the US. He pointed out that these would affect African countries’ interaction around energy and energy security. The impact would be significant, he warned. Multilateral cooperation was under deep strain. Multilateral investment flows remained unequal. Trade had been weaponised, making it more difficult for developing countries to achieve sustainable development. The Paris climate accords were not being achieved.
Emerging electricity retail brand Earth & Wire reports that it is at an advanced stage of developing a 2 GW project cluster in the Eastern Cape called Energy Fields, which will blend utility-scale wind and solar PV generation with large-scale battery storage and sell electricity to multiple customers. Head of strategic business development Thomas Garner reports that Energy Fields is scheduled to enter into commercial operation by late 2029 and that Earth & Wire is
Energy management and automation company Schneider Electric has appointed Hilton Baartman digital energy director for Anglophone Africa.
Baartman is an award-winning executive with a diverse background in professional services, energy, water, engineering, procurement and construction, as well as technology.
South Africa, and Africa as a whole, had to make use of diversified energy resources, to enhance energy security. This was one of the points highlighted by South African Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa in his keynote address, at the Africa Energy Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on Tuesday. In the case of South Africa, he affirmed that the country’s energy policy was one of “additionality” (adding new energy sources) not “subtraction” (closing down existing energy resources). South Africa (and Africa) was a fossil fuel producer and it would be the “height of folly” to phase this out. “We’re not going to decimate coal.”
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