H.E Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa

The Content Director of Enlit Africa, formerly African Utility Week, Claire Volkwyn, has described as a bold decision by President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to raise the cap on self-electricity generation without licence to 100MW.

Claire Volkwyn, who was speaking during the just ended Enlit Africa Digital Event hosted in South Africa, said: “The country is in the throes of an energy crisis and the importance of the discussions we had at Enlit Africa this week have been punctuated by load shedding.”

According to Volkwyn, there are many opportunities for independent generators to take advantage of South Africa’s abundant solar resources.

“This will be supported by battery storage, which has become more affordable over the past few years and this is a trend we fully expect to see continue as the technology matures and becomes more efficient.

“So many of our sessions over the last few days have touched on the role of gas in Africa, opportunities for solar in the C&I market, and how we move forward as a country and a continent to supply clean, affordable and reliable power to all the people of Africa. We look forward to continuing these discussions in November, and again in June 2022, live in Cape Town.”