South Africa’s clean energy transition has shifted from promise to momentum. Renewable energy’s share of locally generated electricity has climbed from just 2% in 2016 to 9% in 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa says — and the pipeline of projects now under way suggests the pace is only picking up.
Writing in his weekly newsletter, reported by SAnews, the President said the Just Energy Transition is gathering pace, with growing investment in renewables creating new opportunities while the country works to secure reliable and affordable electricity.
The numbers tell the story
Citing Statistics South Africa, President Ramaphosa noted that renewable energy accounted for 2% of locally generated electricity in 2016, rising to 6% in 2021 and 9% in 2024. The country now has close to 16GW of installed renewable energy capacity, while a further 32GW of projects are in the grid connection process and are expected to connect by 2030 — a threefold expansion in the making.
Households are part of the surge. The number of homes with solar panels increased by 86% over three years, reaching 675 000 households in 2025, driven in part by the rooftop solar boom and supported by reforms such as the removal of the licensing threshold for self-generation.
Home-grown investment leads the way
The President pointed to the newly opened first phase of the Ummbila Emoyeni wind farm on the Mpumalanga Highveld as a symbol of the changing energy landscape. Developed by Seriti Green, a subsidiary of South African mining company Seriti Resources, the project’s first phase comprises 25 turbines with a combined capacity of 155MW, and forms part of a planned 900MW hybrid cluster combining wind, solar and battery storage — expected to be the largest hybrid energy facility in South Africa once complete.
What makes it significant, the President said, is that clean energy investment is no longer driven solely by international players: South African companies are investing in the country’s own energy future.
New energy on old coalfields
There is powerful symbolism in where this is happening. “Since the late 1800s, the coalfields of Mpumalanga have helped industrialise our country,” President Ramaphosa said, paying tribute to the coal miners, artisans and power station workers who built South Africa’s industrial base.
Now, the energy systems of the future are rising on that same Highveld — drawing on the region’s existing strengths, skills and infrastructure while adding wind, solar and storage to the mix. For a country determined to grow while greening its grid, it is a transition with opportunity at its heart.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
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