Eskom has appointed Exxaro’s Rivoningo Mnisi as its new group executive for renewables in line with the coal-dominant utility’s stated goal of becoming a “significant player” in the renewable-energy sector.

Group CEO Dan Marokane said in a statement that Mnisi would focus on the work already in progress for an executable initial pipeline of at least 2 GW of clean energy projects by 2026.

“He will also lead the advancement of Eskom’s pipeline of more than 20 GW of clean energy projects to diversify its energy mix as part of the emissions reduction strategy.”

Last year, it issued a tender for a 72 MW solar PV project at its decommissioned Komati power station, as well as for a 75 MW solar PV project near its Lethabo power station.

In a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy, Marokane confirmed that Eskom’s generation division, which is being unbundled, was “working on a pipeline of new clean energy to ensure security of supply in the long term”.

Before joining Eskom, Rivoningo served as chief strategy officer at Exxaro, having also previously worked for Anglo American. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Johannesburg, a BSc (Hons) in Applied Science from the University of Pretoria, and a Master of Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

The appointment was announced as Eskom wrapped up the reorganisation of its executive team, which Marokane said had now been strengthened through the appointment of seven new executives.

He also announced that Dr Candice Hartley had been appointed chief people officer, with a mandate to ensure Eskom had the skills required to operate in a competitive marketplace.

Hartley was previously executive partner and head of people at KPMG South Africa, having also occupied senior roles at AECI, British American Tobacco, Pernod Ricard, Lenovo, Barloworld, Standard Bank, and South African Breweries.

In October, Portia Mngomezulu was appointed group executive for corporate services Nontokozo Hadebe was named group executive for strategy and sustainability, Roman Crookes was appointed as group executive for group capital, and Len de Villiers was named chief information and technology officer, while Alfred Seema joined as group executive for strategic delivery, from Sasol, in December.

These individuals joined an executive team that also included Marokane himself, CFO Calib Cassim, group executive for distribution Monde Bala and group executive for generation Bheki Nxumalo.

The recently separated National Transmission Company South Africa has its own executive team, led by interim CEO Segomoco Scheppers.

“In the last ten months, we have focussed on strengthening our executive team not only to bring in specialist skills to drive the delivery of our strategy in a fast-moving and increasingly competitive marketplace, but to also drive interventions to address the legacy management control issues that have characterised our recent audit findings,” Marokane said.