In an announcement last week, the European Union pledged €11.5bn (about R230bn) in fresh investment to support South Africa's commitment to clean energy, transport infrastructure and pharmaceutical capacity. The funds will back projects such as grid upgrades, energy storage deployment, expansion of renewables, and advancement of green hydrogen and ammonia initiatives. Central to the initiative is the Nelson Mandela Bay green hydrogen and green ammonia project, valued at R105bn, which was singled out by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a Brussels summit. This Coega-based project in planning by Hive Hydrogen and Built Africa has advanced into the front-end engineering design (FEED) phase, with the project leads optimistically suggesting that construction could begin in early 2027 with full commissioning by late 2029. The project has ambitions to produce one million tonnes of green ammonia annually, leveraging South Africa's rich platinum-group metals reserves critical for electrolyser manufacturing. Beyond South Africa, the European Commission also unveiled a new €545m Team Europe package to accelerate Africa's renewable energy transition across the continent. The broader European Global Gateway strategy is simultaneously being scaled up, with the EU targeting over €400bn in global investments by 2027 to boost sustainable infrastructure. South Africa, facing low economic growth and high unemployment, hopes to use the injection to strengthen its energy security, attract further private capital, and position itself as a regional clean-energy hub. However, significant challenges remain, including the execution of large infrastructure projects, regulatory bottlenecks, and ensuring that the new funding delivers tangible social and economic benefits. The European Union's expanded commitment signals growing alignment between the EU, its climate ambitions, South Africa's green transition and Africa's development imperatives, as relations with the Trump administration face significant headwinds.

Eskom has posted a pre-tax profit of R23.9bn for its 2024/25 financial year, a reversal from a R25.5bn loss in 2023/24. The utility, unprofitable since 2017, credits the turnaround to a mix of government support, tariff relief, and operational cost cuts, which directly impacted the bottom line. A key enabler was the R66bn tranche in FY 2024/25 from a broader R254-billion, three-year debt relief package from National Treasury. This taxpayer bailout, earmarked for debt servicing, reduced Eskom debt from R412bn to R372bn at the end of FY 2024/25, and resulted in a R6bn reduction in interest expenses. The bailout relieved Eskom's cash flow position and released funding for increased maintenance. On the income side, a 12.74% electricity price increase allowed by the energy regulator, NERSA - about three times the inflation rate - hit customers hard, but realised approximately R35bn in additional revenue for Eskom. Operationally, Eskom was able to reduce diesel spend by R19bn because of improved coal-fired generation plant performance. A R12bn rebate from SARS for diesel levies paid by Eskom in past years further added to the bottom line. However, persistent challenges remain. Eskom's ageing coal fleet gets older every year, requiring increased maintenance and coal costs to keep them going. Rapidly rising Eskom electricity prices threaten social stability, while fraud, electricity theft and corruption (from both within and outside of Eskom), and nonpayment, especially by municipalities, threaten revenue. Municipal arrear debt to Eskom - already above R100bn - is climbing at about 30% annually and Eskom warns that this could rise to R300bn by 2030. Competition from alternative energy providers and mounting pressure on businesses to decarbonise is eroding Eskom's market share unless it modernises at massive capital cost. Eskom's rebound is noteworthy - but its sustainability depends on political will, structural reform, disciplined governance, and the ability to convert short-term gains into long-term resilience.

Eskom is undergoing a leadership reset just as its finances have tightened, with significant pending board changes, executive shifts and mounting wage pressure from unions. The utility has confirmed Monde Bala as CEO of the newly formed National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), effective 1 October 2025, following his interim tenure. Bala had previously served as Eskom's Group Executive for Distribution since 2019 and now succeeds Segomoco Scheppers, who will be departing Eskom at the end of 2025, while continuing to assist in transition and knowledge transfer till then. Meanwhile, Calib Cassim, Eskom's CFO since November 2018 and former acting CEO, is scheduled for early retirement in October 2026, with the board planning a handover and recruitment ahead of his exit. At the same time, the tenure of the existing Eskom board - appointed in October 2022 - has been extended from 30 September to 30 November 2025 while a replacement board is finalised. The current board chairman, Mteto Nyati, will likely continue after the board changes and retain influence during the transition. These personnel changes coincide with sharp jumps in remuneration. Eskom disclosed that non-executive directors' pay jumped by more than 80% from about R12m to nearly R22m in FY 2024/25. Meanwhile, staff remuneration (net employee benefit expenses) climbed from R35.1bn to R43.2bn - a 23% increase - driven by reinstated incentives, bonuses and a 7% salary increase for lower grades. Against this pay pressure, Eskom's largest union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), has signalled it will demand a 15% wage increase in upcoming wage negotiations. Eskom's leadership transformation, looming wage battles and elevated pay packages underscore how fragile its rebound remains - and how intensely its governance, affordability and financial sustainability will be tested going forward.​

Eskom has announced a stay in its legal challenge against the energy regulator, NERSA, and five licensed electricity traders, allowing negotiations and regulatory work to proceed. The utility said it has “faith in the NERSA process” and will suspend its court action while stakeholders race to expedite and finalise electricity trading rules within three months. The High Court application, filed in July 2025, sought to review and set aside the approval of five electricity trading licences granted by NERSA towards the end of 2024. Eskom has contended that granting licences in the absence of a well-defined trading regime undermines its claimed exclusive distribution rights and allows new entrants to “cherry-pick” high-value customers, eroding cross-subsidy structures. In response to mounting pressure, NERSA has committed to accelerating the trading-rules development process from an original one-year timeline to just three months. Calls are intensifying for the Competition Commission to intervene, with commentators warning that Eskom's litigation strategy smacks of anti-competitive protectionism. The utility's selective court challenge has been framed as a “wake-up call” for a perceived “sleepy” competition oversight regime. Proponents of intervention argue that Eskom must be held to the same standards as other dominant incumbents in South Africa. Energy & Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and business groups BLSA and BUSA have urged Eskom to drop the litigation altogether, warning that it undermines investor confidence and stalls critical reforms for electricity liberalisation. Meanwhile, Eskom has found some support from worker unions such as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) for its opposition to the trading licences. However, Eskom's decision to pause litigating against traders may signal a grudging shift toward regulatory compromise. But success now hinges on whether NERSA, Eskom and other stakeholders can deliver a balanced and enforceable framework quickly enough to sustain confidence in reform.

Two ambitious electricity trading projects have recently been unveiled in South Africa, signalling momentum in market liberalisation and corporates' push for cleaner, more predictable power. The first is the SOLA Group's Springbok Solar Power Project near Virginia in Free State province, which has achieved commercial operation ahead of schedule. The 195 MW multi-buyer, virtual wheeling facility is Africa's first of its kind. It enables multiple corporate buyers - including Amazon, Vodacom, Sibanye-Stillwater, Sasol, Afrimat, Redefine, Old Mutual and others - to purchase renewable power under both long-term and shorter-term contracts. The model combines flexibility and scale, offering buyers access to clean energy without having to build their own generation. Amazon serves as the anchor buyer, a commitment that helped de-risk financing. The project is expected to generate 430 GWh annually and is said to have invested about R375m in local communities, creating 500 jobs to date. The second is a 20-year renewable energy supply agreement between Discovery Green and Glencore Operations South Africa. Starting in 2027, Discovery Green will provide about 290 GWh per year of renewable power to Glencore's mining operations in the Mpumalanga coal belt (Goedgevonden, Tweefontein, iMpunzi) via the national grid in a wheeled-power arrangement. This long-term deal is one of the largest corporate PPA arrangements in the mining sector and gives Glencore cost certainty while supporting its decarbonisation goals. These two projects highlight different but complementary pathways in South Africa's evolving electricity landscape. SOLA's multi-buyer facility expands access and choice, particularly for businesses unable to self-generate or tie into single off-take models. Meanwhile, the Discovery-Glencore PPA showcases how large energy consumers (like mines) can aggregate demand in a renewable, wheeling-based future. The success of both projects will test how well the grid, regulatory frameworks and wheeling rules can adapt to new, more decentralised and flexible power flows across the system.

Botswana plans to host an ambitious clean-energy technology venture - a 250 MW solar PV plant paired with a 100 MW / 400 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to power what is said to be a next-generation data-centre campus near Palapye. The project, jointly being developed by AAAS Energy BV of the Netherlands and ChillMine Inc. of the United States, is planned to anchor the Leupane Energy and Industrial Hub, integrating renewable generation directly with digital-infrastructure demand. Under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the partners plan to design, finance and build a fully off-grid-capable campus optimised for artificial-intelligence and cloud-computing workloads. The hybrid power system aims to deliver stable, dispatchable green electricity 24 hours a day. Limited natural-gas backup generation is being evaluated for prolonged low-irradiance periods. Once complete, the facility will be among the first on the continent to demonstrate baseload renewable power for energy-intensive data operations. According to the developers, the project will support local manufacturing, create hundreds of construction jobs, and reinforce Botswana's goal of becoming a regional hub for sustainable digital and energy investment. The envisaged site benefits from strong grid infrastructure, water availability, and proximity to fibre routes linking Botswana to South Africa. According to the developers, construction is expected to begin in 2026, with phased commissioning from 2027 to 2028, subject to permitting and financial close. If realised, the venture will position Botswana at the forefront of Africa's renewable-powered data-centre revolution - uniting energy transition and digital transformation in one blueprint project. The interplay between renewable, storage and gas in these models will test both engineering sophistication and policy agility in Botswana in the months ahead.

TotalEnergies has “warned Pretoria” that it may suspend further oil and gas investment in South Africa, citing years-long permitting delays and regulatory uncertainty that have stalled key offshore exploration programmes. Senior TotalEnergies executive Nicolas Terraz, president of exploration and production, told delegates at the recent Africa Energy Week forum that the company faces “unacceptable” delays in obtaining environmental clearances and exploration rights for projects off the southern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coasts. The French major is said to have submitted over 700 pages of draft environmental documentation, outlining drilling plans in 2026 or 2027 on the South African side of the Orange Basin. However, no final approvals have been issued yet. Projects at risk include Block 11B/12B off Mossel Bay - home to the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas discoveries - and frontier acreage in the Orange Basin near the Namibian border. Combined, these are said to represent multi-billion-dollar investments and aim to provide a domestic gas bridge as South Africa's coal-fired power generation fleet declines. However, the company's plans have been repeatedly challenged by environmental and community groups, resulting in court-ordered suspensions of seismic surveys and exploration licences. The latest court interdict, issued in August 2025, halted work pending judicial review of consultation processes and biodiversity concerns. TotalEnergies insists it remains committed to South Africa's energy future but says the regulatory gridlock jeopardises investor confidence. Industry bodies, such as the African Energy Chamber (AEC) and the South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA), have urged government to streamline permitting under the amended Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill, warning that prolonged inertia could see exploration capital diverted to Namibia and Mozambique. South Africa's Department of Mineral & Petroleum Resources (DMPR) has yet to formally respond to the warning.