South Africa could leverage its growing energy partnership with China to accelerate renewable energy development, strengthen power infrastructure and expand local manufacturing capacity, South African energy experts have said.
The remarks came as South African Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa attended the South Africa-China Electricity and Energy Investment Conference in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday, where he called for stronger strategic partnerships to advance the country’s long-term power expansion plans.
“China is a strategic partner in South Africa’s energy transition,” Sampson Mamphweli, head of the Energy Secretariat at the South African National Energy Development Institute, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
He said China has developed one of the world’s largest renewable energy sectors and accumulated extensive experience in expanding generation capacity, modernizing power systems and integrating renewable energy into the national grid.
Mamphweli said the partnership with China in renewable energy could help South Africa build local manufacturing capabilities by tapping into the country’s mineral resources, while advancing industrialization, localizing technologies and developing skills.
He identified inadequate transmission infrastructure as one of the biggest obstacles to South Africa’s energy transition, noting that limited grid capacity has prevented renewable energy generated in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces from being transmitted efficiently to major demand centers such as Gauteng.
“China is a leading manufacturer of solar, wind and battery energy storage systems,” he said, adding that South Africa can draw on China’s experience in implementing large-scale renewable energy projects.
Vally Padayachee, professor of practice in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science at the University of Johannesburg, shared a similar view, saying that the growing energy cooperation with China is highly significant and marks a pivotal shift in South Africa’s energy landscape.
“We view China as a key strategic partner in realizing the full scope of our Integrated Resource Plan 2025 and Just Energy Transition,” Padayachee, who is also a former senior executive at Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, told Xinhua.
He said cooperation in expanding transmission networks, battery energy storage and smart grid technologies would have the greatest impact by strengthening the national grid, improving power supply reliability and supporting economic growth.
“The greatest potential lies in the synergy between China’s world-leading renewable energy capabilities and South Africa’s urgent need for grid modernization and industrial expansion,” he said.
Padayachee said South Africa’s efforts to localize its energy value chain would also benefit from closer cooperation with China. “Cooperation with China is vital, as it allows us to leverage their established industrial footprint to set up local manufacturing hubs.”
As South Africa moves toward a more decentralized and renewable-heavy power system, he said, China’s expertise in large-scale energy infrastructure and smart grid management will be instrumental.
“We anticipate China playing a central role in supporting our ambitions for green hydrogen, advanced battery storage and grid modernization,” Padayachee said.