Entries by

Africa’s energy transition must support industrialisation, Ramaphosa tells Energy Indaba delegates

South Africa is seeking to expand its electricity transmission grid, which wis a R450-billion challenge, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his keynote address at the 2026 Africa Energy Indaba, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on March 4.  “The main focus in our country has really been the energy landscape and the reform thereof,” he told the assembled delegates. “Electricity is an absolute necessity in the lives of all South Africans. Today, 93% of South African households have electricity.”
March 4, 2026 by

Cutting carbon emissions requires green industrialisation

The pledges agreed at the COP 30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, last year, brought real opportunities for Africa, emphasised UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) programme manager Karin Reiss. She was speaking in a panel discussion at Africa Energy Indaba 2026, being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on Tuesday. (Key COP 30 outcomes were agreements to triple climate adaptation finance by 2035; establish a Just Transition Mechanism to support fairness in moving to a green economy; and the adoption of 59 global indicators to track progress in adaptation.)
March 3, 2026 by

Ramokgopa reflects on Africa’s energy future amid global upheaval

South African Electicity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has highlighted the current global upheavals and what they mean for African energy in his welcoming address at Africa Energy Indaba 2026, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on Tuesday. “The global order, as we have known it for decades, is recalibrating in real time,” he pointed out. “Energy sits at the epicentre of this reordering. Electricity has become sovereignty expressed in electrons.”
March 3, 2026 by

Glencore-Merafe pauses retrenchments until end-March as it weighs Eskom’s 62c/kWh offer

The Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture has paused a retrenchment process at its ferrochrome smelters by a month to March 31 after Eskom made a 62c/kWh tariff offer on the eve of its previous February 28 deadline for the implementation of retrenchments. In a statement, the venture expressed appreciation for the efforts that had been made by government and Eskom to find a tariff solution. But it noted that the associated terms, conditions, and contractual framework were still being finalised and remained subject to approval by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
March 2, 2026 by

Details of Eskom’s eleventh-hour 62c/KWh offer to ferrochrome smelters to be provided in …

Eskom announced on Friday that it had extended an eleventh-hour 62c/kWh tariff offer to ferrochrome producers Glencore‑Merafe Chrome Venture and Samancor, but indicated that negotiations on the precise terms and conditions still needed to be finalised before the package could be submitted for regulatory approval. Hence the details of the package, including its structure, duration, take-or-pay commitments, and any risk-and-reward sharing, would only be made available once the negotiations had been concluded and a submission was made to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for its approval of the discounted tariff.
February 27, 2026 by

Eskom stays legal action to allow Nersa-led process on trading rules to unfold

Eskom has reached an agreement to suspend legal proceedings instituted against the granting of trading licences in 2024 to allow the current regulatory process to draft new trading rules to proceed in the absence of parallel litigation. In what was a surprise development at the time, Eskom applied to the High Court in July 2025 to have the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) decision to grant five electricity trading licences reviewed and set aside.
February 27, 2026 by

Eskom to distribute power in debt-stricken South African towns

Eskom Holdings will be allowed to take over the distribution of electricity in South African municipalities that collectively owed the state utility R85.2-billion at the end of last year. The government has offered support to local authorities that have fallen into arrears due to weak revenue generation, poor credit controls and other financial pressures. But only 15 of 71 councils that signed up for a turnaround program have consistently met the conditions to qualify for relief from the state, including demonstrating improved debt collection.
February 25, 2026 by

Budget outlines shift from oversight to ‘structural intervention’ to tackle municipal …

Amid growing dissatisfaction with the performance of many of the country’s 257 municipalities, 162 of which are categorised as being in financial distress, the National Treasury has outlined what it describes as a fundamental shift in the subnational fiscal architecture that moves from oversight to active structural intervention. “At the municipal level, this shift involves changes to legislation, governance arrangements and technological intervention,” the Budget Review states, indicating that the proposed municipal reforms are rooted in the revised White Paper on Local Government.
February 25, 2026 by

Eskom publishes Medupi FGD cost-benefit analysis report for public comment

Power utility Eskom is encouraging communities, environmental groups, industry representatives, government institutions and other interested and affected parties to review, and comment on, a draft cost-benefit analysis (CBA) report and related documents on flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) at the Medupi Power Station, in Limpopo. Eskom had previously applied to then Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dr Deon George for an exemption from compliance with certain minimum emission standards (MES) limits for a period in 2025. In response, the Minister on March 31, 2025, issued a directive, requiring Eskom to complete and publish for stakeholder comment a revised and expanded plant-specific CBA for FGD at Medupi.
February 25, 2026 by

Opinion: Risks, rewards and realities of South Africa’s wholesale electricity market reform

n this article, EE Business Intelligence MD Chris Yelland writes that South Africa’s electricity market is moving towards a competitive, rules-based, multi-market structure with transparent price discovery and shared responsibility, but warns that the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) alone will not solve South Africa’s transmission bottlenecks, municipal governance failures or legacy debt burdens.
February 24, 2026 by