In normal times, the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) would be the dominant political event in South Africa during the week of its delivery. These are far from normal times, however, so the SoNA... 

Recent developments in South Africa’s electricity market point to there being growing, albeit still nascent, momentum behind the country’s energy transition. They also suggest that the transition... 

Be it apartheid, State capture or even the government of national unity, South Africans know firsthand the importance and influence of politics on all aspects of life. There is a strong... 

There is every reason to expect that 2025 will be a year of disruption. It’s an expectation informed largely by the reality of widespread national political rupture, epitomised by the return of... 

News that the struggling Newcastle Works will close at the end of this month is yet another painful reminder of South Africa’s ongoing deindustrialisation. The development itself is not surprising,... 

Trade and industrial policy will play a more prominent and potentially more destabilising role given that President-elect Donald Trump has signalled his intention to leverage tariffs as part of his... 

After the false start of January when the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP2023) was released to much criticism and even incredulity, an effort is now under way to have a revamped IRP2024... 

It was fascinating to listen to Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati outline, in a recent exchange with the Centre for Development and Enterprises’ Ann Bernstein, why he believed the latest turnaround... 

By the time you read this, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) will be about halfway through its nationwide public hearings into Eskom’s sixth multiyear price determination... 

Few would disagree that aggregators and traders will have an important and increasing role in South Africa’s future electricity market. Even in the current environment, where the industry is still... 

Building much-needed public infrastructure and scaling up private sector participation in the delivery of such infrastructure emerged as the key theme of the first Medium-Term Budget Policy... 

It is positive that the current framework used by government to procure new generation capacity from independent power producers (IPPs) is under review. These programmes have been struggling to... 

The recent claim made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that humanity is “moving at speed into the Age of Electricity” may not seem especially profound given that electricity has been a key... 

The official launch of the National Transmission Company South Africa as an independent subsidiary of Eskom Holdings did indeed represent an important milestone in the restructuring of South... 

The so-called second phase of the partnership launched between government and business to tackle South Africa’s electricity, logistics and crime crises under the Government of National Unity (GNU)... 

It’s time for South Africa to interrogate its policy of pursuing a so-called ‘energy mix’, which may sound reasonable, but which has become little more than a convenient fig leaf for policy... 

Few would disagree that the current financial and operational model for electricity distribution is no longer fit for purpose. This lack of sustainability is reflected in the continual rise in the... 

The current scepticism surrounding the prospects for green hydrogen in South Africa and globally is only natural. A gap was inevitably going to arise between what many have termed “hydrogen hype”... 

The haste at which the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is moving to remedy the embarrassment of having to withdraw the Ministerial determination opening the way for the... 

The assignment of shareholder responsibilities for State-owned enterprises (SOEs) that previously fell under the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) to line departments is an important, yet... 

Given the grid-related uncertainties that have overshadowed Bid Window Seven (BW7) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), it was somewhat positive to... 

At the first meeting between members of the Cabinet and senior business leaders since the formation of the Government of National Unity it was agreed that the National Energy Crisis Committee... 

For some, the unbundling of South Africa’s vertically integrated electricity utility is viewed as a wonkish problem somewhat akin to insisting that line departments should not have shareholder... 

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is correct when he says South Africa’s electricity pricing policy is in need of review, including the approach being taken to set tariffs... 

As loadshedding wanes, Eskom’s confidence is growing. This is not a bad thing, as South Africa needs its State-owned companies to be places of delivery and, eventually, even centres of excellence.... 

It was far from certain only weeks ago how a government of national unity (GNU) of ten political parties, some with strongly divergent ideological positions, was going to agree on a common... 

South Africa, everyone agrees, has a growth problem. The country has performed poorly when compared with its middle-income peers for more than a decade, averaging growth of only 1.1%. There is also... 

The decision to again uncouple the energy portfolio from mineral resources and appoint Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the new Electricity and Energy Minister in the government of national unity has... 

As is the case for the country as a whole, South Africa’s industrial development is at “a moment of fundamental consequence”, to borrow a line from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration speech.... 

The tapering of loadshedding has arguably provided the Eskom board and executive team with some much-needed time and space to consider the future of the business without the daily distraction of... 

South Africa is strenuously opposing the European Union’s (EU’s) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that, under its evolving design and coverage, could have a significant impact on the... 

Regardless of composition, there are certain realities that South Africa’s new government cannot avoid. The first is an unemployment rate so high that, unless it is reduced materially, there is no...