Suggestions for fostering growth

Establish pilots

Priority items

Import qualifications

Plan for skills

Quick wins to accelerate growth

Instead of pursuing ‘grand plans’, South Africa must consider smaller, more focused projects to increase chances of success. Pilot projects can help establish the feasibility of producing different technologies, such as batteries, photovoltaic panels or inverters. Currently, these items are imported, when they could be manufactured locally, and potentially exported.

Demonstrating the different technologies’ success through pilot projects will create an enabling environment to fast-track development and help develop local supply chains, which can be considered in the procurement process.

Select two or three priority items that would provide the biggest benefit to the energy sector and focus on the entire value chain of those items. Put together a team that will concentrate on the full project life cycle, from the feasibility studies to getting funding and implementing the project.

Rather than importing skills, South Africa should consider importing qualifications. It is a complicated, arduous, long process to develop a curriculum and learning material. Importing qualifications or learning programmes will reduce the lag between South Africa’s skills planning and implementation of projects.

This is also an opportunity for skills transfer to ensure that local academics and universities are well informed.

Develop a skills plan, in tandem with new policies, to align the delivery of skills with the implementation of such policies. The skills plan must deal with all the support systems, such as education and accreditation requirements.

Suggestions for fostering growth

Suggestions to enhance investor confidence – continued

Seize climate opportunities While often discussed as a major risk, climate change is also an opportunity. The low-carbon transition is creating opportunities for firstmovers willing to innovate, whether that be in adaption or mitigation projects across different segments in the economy.

The opportunities will require careful consideration to select the right projects, create enabling policy and legislation, as well as introduce the legislative mechanisms that give impetus to these projects.

Establish dedicated units Emulate the model of the IPP Office, which is a dedicated unit with the mandate to manage the procurement of electricity from the private sector. Dedicated units can be established to successfully navigate public–private partnerships.