As we close out the working year and look back over 2025 there are a few markers worth highlighting. 2025 was the year South Africa hosted the G20, the first on the continent, and successfully so (even if that has been subsequently shadowed with the US taking on the G20 Presidency for 2026). It was the year South Africa extricated itself from FATF grey list – a significant step towards regaining investment grade ratings and encouraging future investment in the economy. And it was the year South Africa managed, for the most part, to move beyond the dark days of load shedding. This is a result of Eskom’s focus, hard work and commitment to implementing its Generation Recovery Plan, alongside other progressive steps, and the huge growth in renewable energy generation, which has added substantially to the country’s generation capacity and has given Eskom the space to pursue the level of maintenance required to renew its aging power stations. (Significantly too, it was the year in which Eskom returned to profitability after many years of reported deficits.) Although stability of supply is not yet where it should be – and transmission and distribution networks, exacerbated by the unresolved issue of municipal debt, present the next challenges along the way – the move beyond load shedding has provided a fundamental step up for industry, for the economy and generally for the level of confidence in the country’s future.
Another marker of 2025 has perhaps been the mainstreaming of AI – across virtually every aspect of our digital world – and, in parallel, rising concerns about the extraordinary energy consumption levels it imposes via data centres and global connectivity, as well as the ethics and governance of this not new but quite suddenly central phenomenon in the way we live and work.
Of course, there have been many other markers through the year – positive and negative – but we have come through.
In this issue of Electricity + Control, bridging the turning of the year, we touch on some of them.
In Industry 4.0 + IioT, Teraco looks at how subsea cables and data centre ecosystems power the digital economy.
In Renewable energy and energy management, we report on the findings of the 2025 South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey, which point to a pipeline of some 220 GW of renewable energy projects – and where new transmission lines and infrastructure will be needed.
Among other things, we also note a number of new renewable energy projects entering commercial operation, and more breaking ground, or reaching financial close in the last quarter of the year. This sector still represents a major thrust for economic growth at national and local levels.
In addition, we report on various products and services in Measurement + Instrumentation and relating to Safety of plant, equipment + people.
There is an interesting piece in our column on Engineering the future, outlining the collaborative work being done by Nvidia and Samsung in building an AI factory that will combine Samsung’s semiconductor technologies with Nvidia platforms to establish the foundation of next-generation AI-driven production.
In Reskilling, upskilling + training EWSETA highlights the value of TVET colleges in developing the skilled workforce South Africa needs.
And Write @ the back SRK Consulting South Africa calls attention to the new regulations that will make companies’ commitments to reducing their carbon emissions legally enforceable.
Thank you all for choosing to work with Electricity + Control. We wish you all peace and goodwill as we turn towards the new year.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD AND READ THIS ISSUE IN PDF FORMAT.
