South Africa’s transition away from an energy system controlled by Eskom to a competitive electricity market has begun. The task now is “to manage that transition deliberately and fairly” and that requires clear decisions about the future of Eskom, explicit timelines for implementation, and safeguards to avoid conflicts of interest and support a level playing field, says a new report released by the South Africa Electricity Traders Association (SAETA) this week.
The legislation is in place for open access to the grid and an independent transmission system operator, but for the new system to work, Eskom must be unbundled. It’s the most important economic reform since 1994, says the report called Policy to Power: Ten actions to deliver green, accessible and secure electricity.
The report outlines clearly the 10 actions required make the energy transition work. Or you can read energy analyst Chris Yelland’s summary here.
Substantial investment in both generation and transmission is required at a scale that cannot be met by Eskom, the public sector or the national treasury alone, but requires large amounts of private capital, says the report.
Initial reforms have already unlocked a wave of private investment. Between 2023 and 2025, almost 4.7GW of private contracted power projects above 5MW reached financial close, according to the report.
Generation projects registered with the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) in 2025 alone had an estimated investment value of R158-billion.
Nersa regularly publishes lists of the facilities registered on its website. The latest update includes projects registered up to December 2025. The amount of information provided is limited, so Outlier Renew is turning this list into a database. We have started to group the companies that have registered projects, so we can see who is registering projects, how many and where. We’re also categorising those companies into sectors.
At the moment, we’re making the database public. It’s still in its initial stages but take a look and send us feedback. Our goal is to make something useful for our subscribers.
NEWS WRAP
Koko Networks, an African clean cooking company that was backed by a World Bank investment guarantee and received finance from Rand Merchant Bank among others, has collapsed after failing to get regulatory approval from the Kenyan government to sell carbon credits on international compliance markets.
Kahre Renewable Energy Group plans to build a ‘net-zero industrial corridor’ linking large-scale renewable energy generation in the Northern Cape with manufacturing and logistics infrastructure in the Western Cape. It will include electrolysis capacity, hydrogen or ammonia pipeline infrastructure and green fuel processing, bunkering and logistics within the Saldanha Bay Special Economic Zone, as well as an “eco-city” development.
The Energy Council of South Africa has published a report looking into regulated and unregulated elements of the wholesale tariff under the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) and analyses the implications for tariff design, regulation and downstream pricing.
BluEnergy Trading has been granted a multi-year energy trading licence by Nersa.
Lyra Energy, an electricity trader, reports it has entered three power purchase agreements with private offtakers to buy electricity produced by its 255 MW Thakadu solar PV project. The Thakadu project is a partnership with power company Scatec.
Ener-G-Africa (EGA) has opened a solar panel assembly facility in Paarl, in the Western Cape. The plant can manufacture panels from 5W to 620W.
Toyota dealerships have rolled out over 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging points in the last year.
The 4.6MW Sandveld Solar Park in Botswana has reached commercial operation. The project is a collaboration of New Sahara Ventures and Energy System Group.
EVENTS
🔋 Solar & Storage Live Africa returns to the Gallagher Convention Centre from 25 to 27 March. The exhibition will feature more than 650 solution providers showcasing technologies across solar generation, energy storage, power electronics and smart energy systems. Alongside the exhibition will be a three-day conference. Outlier Renew is a media partner for the event. To register to attend the exhibition and conference for free, you can register here.
️⚡️ The Africa Energy Indaba will be happening at the Cape Town Convention Centre on 3 – 5 March.