Kenneth Oyakhire, MD & CEO, GE Vernova | Africa Energy Forum 2026

Ramokgopa has set out 105GW of new generation and 14,500km of transmission, and wants the towers, transformers and cables built by South African manufacturers

Red Rocket is expanding real-time bird detection across more of its wind farms after a successful first year at Brandvalley and Rietkloof. Sustainability and HSEQ Director Magdalena Michalowska-Logan on what the data showed, and why targeted turbine shutdowns could become standard practice at higher-risk sites.

Global power demand has entered an investment super-cycle, and Africa's industrial expansion is rising with it. Writing for ENN ahead of AEF 2026, Joseph Anis, President and CEO for Europe, Middle-East and Africa at GE Verona's Gas Power business, argues that the right energy mix only delivers if the grid grows with it and local capability is built alongside.

136MW of solar reached the Zambian grid in 14 months, financed through local capital markets without a sovereign guarantee. Owen Silavwe, Managing Director of Copperbelt Energy, tells ENN whether Itimpi II is a repeatable blueprint for how Zambia builds, how far solar can cut the country's reliance on hydropower, and where battery storage fits next.

Deneys has returned as an independent South African law firm, reviving a name part of the country's legal landscape for over a century, now with 200 legal staff across three offices and a pipeline weighted towards energy and infrastructure. Jackie Midlane, Head of Banking & Finance, Projects, tells ENN what independence unlocks for clients building across the continent.

With some of the world's best solar and wind resources, Africa is positioned to leapfrog into a low-cost renewable future. Writing for ENN, Kenneth Engblom, Vice President at Wärtsilä Energy, makes the case that the right mix of renewables, storage and flexible engines, rather than batteries alone, builds grids that are cleaner, more affordable and more reliable.

South Africa's transmission grid is gaining a new source of expertise as it prepares for higher shares of renewable power. On the sidelines of the Africa Energy Forum, Eskom, the NTCSA, France's RTE international and AFD signed a two-year technical cooperation programme to strengthen the grid's resilience, flexibility and capacity.

Africa has more countries than any other continent, and a power system fragmented along every border between them. At AEF 2026, the AfDB's Wale Shonibare, Africa GreenCo's Lion Mashiri and Ndola Energy's Adrian Silwimba argued that continental-scale projects only become financeable when electricity can be traded as freely as it is generated.