No one entity can meet South Africa’s energy investment needs, report argues

No one entity has the resources, funding or execution capability to address South Africa’s multitrillion-rand energy investment needs, a new PWC report argues, while calling for collaboration between the public and private sectors to address the challenge.

The ‘Africa Energy Review 2024’ report follows government’s release of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which highlighted the need to scale up private-sector participation in the delivery of public infrastructure, including energy infrastructure.

“The collective strengths of the public and private sectors through collaboration are essential to effectively deliver energy infrastructure to achieve energy security at best cost.

“Such a collaboration will provide the necessary momentum to support energy market liberalisation,” the PWC report states.

The report also highlights that the South African market is undergoing “momentous change”, and forecasts that aggregators and traders will change the future market landscape.

PwC Africa energy utilities and resources leader Andries Rossouw would not be drawn on Eskom’s decision to mount a legal challenge to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s recent decision to issue four new trading licences.

However, he said that changes to South Africa’s energy legislation implied that aggregators and traders would play a key role in future in helping to match supply and demand in a way that would unlock new generation and infrastructure development.

“South Africa has made considerable progress toward liberalising its energy sector, with a major update being the signing of the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act in August 2024.

“This Act introduces sweeping reforms designed to create a competitive electricity market and modernise the sector, aligning with the country’s goals to end loadshedding and secure long-term energy stability,” the report adds.