Tag: power supply

As the world’s second largest continent, the vast expanse Africa lends itself to remote operations, often hundreds of kilometres away from civilisation and the hub of infrastructure and supply such as energy. Industries like mining, minerals and metals often must contend with considerable energy loss or high transportation costs of diesel (for self-generation) due to these vast distances.

Today, many power industry stakeholders are faced with mounting requirements for improved grid reliability, resilience, and distribution efficiency. It’s a challenge which requires power service providers to rethink their infrastructure, particularly making the most of smart grid philosophies in their deployments.

From smoke signals and homing pigeons, long-distance communications have come a long way – today telecom platforms and solutions have transformed how organisations and individuals share voice, data, video and information. The world has moved beyond the physical and into the digital with solutions that allow for clear, always-on, and accessible communications.

Accessing the right funding and financing, at the right time, can mean the difference between starting up, staying open, or shutting down. The economy is facing a challenging business environment, with slow global growth, economic volatility, and ongoing power supply issues. This means that many businesses in South Africa are still trying to find their financial footing

Innovations kept coming in 2023 and load shedding continues in 2024. This drives my choice of the year’s best load shedding gadgets. I have selected the best of the year’s gadgets that made life more convenient, enjoyable and manageable to ease the power outages.

The marriage of global expertise with local know-how cannot be overstated.  This is particularly true in the case of hyperscaler marketplace in Africa, which has enjoyed some tremendous growth in recent years. In South Africa, global cloud service providers (CSPs) like Microsoft, IBM, AWS, Oracle have expanded their cloud data centres which, in turn, has bolstered the hyperscaler market.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have become somewhat commonplace in numerous countries. With its own, bona fide racing events such as Formula E and Extreme E, it’s safe to say the green technology has cemented its role in the automotive industry.

Property technology (commonly known as proptech) is on the rise globally. The escalating significance of proptech within the industry is underscored by its staggering projected market value - poised to reach $86.5 billion by 2032.

Eskom cannot be trusted with load-limiting, as the same kind of centralisation is what caused the energy crisis in the first place. We will publish a research paper on privatisation later this year, that will set out how best to go about the privatisation of Eskom. This comes as the embattled state-owned enterprise seems to be fumbling from one bad idea to the next as it tries to stabilise power supply.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) play a vital role in promoting economic growth, attracting investments and driving industrialisation in Africa. As the world embraces rapid technological advancements, it is crucial for SEZs and IDZs to adapt and adopt technological change to remain competitive and foster sustainable development.