Programme Director,
Minister of Electricity and Energy of South Africa, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa,
Visting Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Ms Lerato Mataboge,
Leaders of business and labour,
Representatives of international organisations,
Representatives of development partners,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Delegates,
Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this year’s Africa Energy Indaba.

This Indaba is an opportunity to harness our collective efforts towards realising an Africa that meets its needs for reliable and cost-effective energy, while becoming a competitive exporter of energy in a rapidly changing global market.

There has never been a better time for Africa to advance its energy security, resilience and sustainability.

With its abundant natural resources, our continent holds immense potential for energy generation.

Alongside substantial oil and gas reserves, Africa has abundant solar resources, wind corridors and major river systems.

There is an abundance of critical minerals beneath African soil that are being sought globally for technological applications, including in energy.

Yet, alongside this natural wealth, Africa experiences energy poverty.

More than 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency.

Every day without reliable power translates into lost production, interrupted services, constrained investment and reduced opportunity.

This energy gap exists in a context of a growing continental population, rising urbanisation and renewed efforts to industrialise and integrate into the global economy.

In this environment, access to reliable electricity is a competitive differentiator.

Industrialisation cannot take place without secure supply chains, resilient villages, towns and cities, and reliable, affordable and scalable energy.

Historically, much of Africa’s energy infrastructure was built to serve extractive models.

Power systems were developed around enclaves of production, rather than around broad-based development.

This legacy still influences the geography of opportunity.

It explains why, even where resources exist, the systems required to translate resources into prosperity have remained uneven.

The task now is to build a different kind of energy system, one that connects Africa to itself, and one that allows our economies to grow together rather than apart.

The African Union’s Agenda 2063 recognises that Africa’s development must rest on modern infrastructure, including energy systems that are integrated, reliable and capable of supporting industrial transformation.

It places energy at the centre because it understands that without energy, the broader aspirations of integration, value addition and inclusive growth will remain constrained.

The promise of Agenda 2063 is not only universal access to energy, but productive access.

Productive access enables industry, supports competitive enterprises and creates jobs at scale.

Productive access that allows African economies to move beyond the export of raw materials and toward the creation of value.

This is access that supports modern public services, strengthens human development outcomes and reduces the cost of doing business.

These outcomes depend on transmission and regional integration that allow power to move and resources to be shared.

Across Africa, the logic of integration is already visible in the work of regional power pools and cross border interconnectors.

These allow hydropower, solar, wind, gas and storage to support one another across borders and create a pathway to a more efficient continental system.

An integrated system allows resources to be used more efficiently and for variable resources to be balanced across geography.

An integrated system enables a more competitive market and spreads risk.

In this way, integration supports both affordability and reliability, which are essential to industrial competitiveness.

The Ten-Year Africa Energy Infrastructure Investment Plan inaugurated under South Africa’s G20 Presidency is a deliberate effort to move from fragmented initiatives to a coordinated platform that can mobilise investment at scale.

The Plan recognises that Africa’s energy needs are too large to be met by incremental projects.

There needs to be a coherent pipeline of bankable investments, supported by credible institutions, predictable regulation and partnerships.

Infrastructure at this scale depends on financial systems that are aligned with long term development.

This is because energy assets require large upfront capital, long construction periods and stable revenue over many years.

Public finance cannot fund the full scale of Africa’s infrastructure needs on its own, but it can play a catalytic role in project preparation, credit enhancement and risk reduction.

The significance of the Ten-Year Africa Energy Infrastructure Investment Plan lies in its ability to organise the pipeline of projects in a manner that is credible to financiers and valuable to economies.

Africa’s energy agenda must be linked to an industrial agenda.

When the continent speaks about critical minerals, it must also speak about beneficiation.

When it speaks about renewable resources, it must also speak about local manufacturing capacity, skills development and industrial clusters.

When it speaks about investment, it must also speak about the institutions that can deliver projects on time, within cost and with quality.

For the energy transition in Africa to be just and inclusive, it must support development and enable industrial growth.

The Africa Energy Indaba should be encouraging partnerships that build confidence that projects will be delivered with integrity.

This confidence relies on planning institutions that can anticipate demand and regulators that can balance investor certainty with public interest.

Credibility needs to be built through utilities and system operators that can operate networks securely and public finance institutions that can support preparation and structure transactions.

Complex infrastructure programmes succeed when actions match words.

Africa needs to be known not only for its ambition, but for its ability to implement.

The future we seek is one in which Africa is connected by infrastructure, aligned by policy and strengthened by shared investment.

In such a future, energy becomes a bridge between regions, a platform for industrial corridors and a foundation for prosperity.

This event is taking place at a time of heighted volatility in global energy markets.

Africa is already experiencing the impact of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, with strains on supply chains and higher energy prices.

As we have seen with Russia-Ukraine and during the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting geopolitical sands underscore the vulnerabilities of import-dependent economies across Africa.

These vulnerabilities sharpen the case for regional and continental energy security and diversification.

As such, this Indaba is timely and strategic. It is an opportunity to position our continent in a rapidly-changing geopolitical context.

Africa has what it needs to succeed. It has resources. It has people. It has growing institutions and expanding cooperation.

The remaining task is to match this potential with sustained implementation, to translate plans into projects, and to turn projects into reliable power that supports industry, jobs and dignity.

The present moment calls for unity of effort.

It calls for partnerships that recognise that Africa’s growth is not a risk to be managed, but an opportunity to be realised.

It calls for a shift from potential to delivery, from promise to construction.

I am confident that this Indaba will help strengthen cooperation, accelerate investment and contribute to building energy systems worthy of Africa’s promising future.

I thank you.