As South Africa accelerates the shift towards a more liberalised electricity market, private-sector-driven renewable-energy projects are emerging as critical instruments for meeting near-term capacity needs, states renewables company G7 Renewable Energies CEO Dr Kilian Hagemann. Karreebosch, owned by turnkey energy solutions company Cennergi Holdings and G7 Renewable Energies, is located between the towns of Sutherland in the Northern Cape and Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape.
With the renewables sector moving beyond proof-of-concept into industrial-scale deployment, South Africa’s leading financiers are playing a pivotal role in translating policy ambition into bankable infrastructure. For Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), success in scaling up renewable-energy projects hinges on collaboration, disciplined risk allocation and a growing ecosystem of private offtake models reshaping the country’s energy market. South Africa’s renewable-energy landscape continues to evolve as projects under public procurement and private contracting frameworks advance to financial close, says Standard Bank CIB power head Rentia van Tonder. Standard Bank has emerged as one of the leading financiers enabling this shift, combining traditional project-finance rigour with innovative structures tailored to a more liberalised energy environment.
Trade union Solidarity says the time is ripe for negotiations for an appropriate Eskom power tariff that can keep the ferrochrome industry afloat while benefitting other parties. Although this willingness to negotiate is welcomed, and retrenchments at Glencore-Merafe’s and Samancor’s smelters have been postponed as a result, retrenchments have not yet been finally averted, Solidarity deputy general secretary Willie Venter notes.
The 75 MW Umoyilanga hybrid project, which combines solar, wind and battery storage technologies across two sites to produce dispatchable electricity, has taken a step closer to its full commercial operations date (COD) with construction completed at the Dassiesridge site in the Eastern Cape. The project, which was one of the winning bidders under South Africa’s troubled Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) that was overshadowed by the powership bids, is being developed by a consortium involving EDF power solutions and investment company Perpetua Holdings.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $10-million loan to support the development of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy’s $10-billion green ammonia project, in Namibia. The loan, sourced from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, will support front-end engineering and design studies for solar and wind generation, battery energy storage systems and electrolyser capacity and desalination infrastructure, thereby derisking the project and attracting the financing needed to implement the project …
The Merafong City local municipality, in Gauteng, has become the third municipality in South Africa to sign a distribution agency agreement (DAA) with State-owned utility Eskom, marking a major structural intervention aimed at stabilising electricity distribution and improving revenue collection in the area. The agreement was formally concluded on December 8, during a signing ceremony at the Merafong Council Chambers attended by municipal manager Dumisani Mabuza, senior executives of Merafong City and senior Eskom leadership led by Gauteng Cluster Organisation GM Bandile Jack.
The National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), which is set to remain an Eskom Holdings subsidiary and owner of the transmission assets, has moved to explain the role of the yet-to-be-created Transmission System Operator (TSO) under the revised and newly endorsed unbundling strategy. The strategy has been approved by Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and will see Eskom Holdings retain not only the NTCSA as a subsidiary, but also the National Electricity Distribution Company of South Africa, as well as an entity currently dubbed GenerationCo, which will hold its legacy generation assets, and a new Eskom Green subsidiary to house its renewable-energy business.
A new Eskom unbundling strategy, which uncouples the grid assets from the system operator role to be performed by a separate and yet-to-be-established transmission system operator (TSO), has been approved by Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Under the strategy, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) will continue to own, expand and maintain the national grid and will also remain a subsidiary of Eskom Holdings.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) says demand for solar PV in 2025 continued to recover from the 2024 slowdown, which followed on from the loadshedding-induced surge of 2023 when 2.4 GW of capacity was installed. New installations contracted last year to about 1 GW, but have since recovered to above that level in 2025.
Eskom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Samancor Chrome and the Glencore–Merafe Chrome Venture in a bid to finalise an electricity tariff solution that prevents the closure of additional smelting capacity, and averts the threat of widespread job cuts in the sector. In a statement, Eskom said a joint task team had been set up to develop the intervention following what the State-owned company described as constructive engagements held on December 5 with Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and organised labour.
INDUSTRY NEWS
WHERE TO FIND US
Address
9 Yellow Street
Botshabelo Industrial Area
Botshabelo, Free State
Call / Email Us
Tel: +27 (0) 61 956 6772
Email: info@transfix.co.za
