Five people who can change Africa's energy path

© HONGQI ZHANG – 123RF.com

The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB) course - headed up by Professor Anton Eberhard - annually creates this powerful learning network.

1. Professor Anton Eberhard

Eberhard directs the management programme in infrastructure reform and regulation at the GSB and is a key expert in Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's energy advisory panel or War Room.

There is a reason why his input there is so important. His research and teaching focuses on the restructuring and regulation of the electricity and water sectors, investment challenges, and linkages to sustainable development.

Eberhard has worked in the energy sector for more than 30 years and was the founding director of the Energy and Development Research Centre. He is a foundation member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and currently serves on the country's National Planning Commission.

Previously, he served for seven years on the board of energy regulator Nersa. Eberhard has undertaken numerous assignments for governments, utilities, regulatory authorities, and donor and multilateral agencies.

2. Robert Koch

Robert Koch has worked at Eskom since 1990 and is currently corporate specialist (power quality) and Eskom's national quality of supply co-coordinator.

Koch has published over 90 technical papers and journal publications related to power quality, technical performance and regulation. He has consulted to various power companies and research organisations throughout the world.

He is recipient of the SAIEE Young Achievers Award for his contributions to power quality management in South Africa, and of the International CIGRE Technical Committee Award for his contributions to his area of work.

Koch was one of the lead authors of the Power Quality Directive of the National Electricity Regulator (2003) and of several of the NRS 048 regulatory power quality standards since 1995.

3. Ian Alexander

Ian Alexander is a regulatory economist with over 12 years' experience in helping governments, regulators and companies address regulatory and private sector participation issues.

He is a specialist in financial aspects of regulation, creating an environment for private sector participation and regime design. He has worked in developed, developing and transitional countries.

Alexander has also worked across the whole range of regulated utility and infrastructure sectors including electricity, gas, telecommunications, transport (airports, rail and road) and water.

He is director at Cambridge Economic Policy Associates and previously worked for the World Bank.

4. Dr Martín Rodriguez-Pardina

Dr Martín Rodríguez-Pardina is the chief economist of MacroConsulting, a consulting firm specialising in economic regulation of utilities. He has experience working as a consultant in regulation and restructuring of public utilities in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and India.

He has a PhD in economics from the University of Cambridge and a degree in economics from the University of Cordoba in Argentina.

He has published several articles on utility regulation in international journals and is the co-author of two books published by the World Bank, one on resetting price caps and the other on regulatory accounting.

5. Joseph Kapika

Joseph Kapika is a senior energy specialist in the energy and extractives global practice of the World Bank Group.

Kapika was an Eberhard PhD candidate, where he ran the African Electricity Regulator Peer Review and Learning Network.

His experience in the electric power sector spans 19 years and his work has covered power system planning, transmission system development, the Southern African Power Pool, power sector reform and regulation among others.

He is co-author of Power Sector Reform and Regulation: Lessons from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

How these five can change Africa's energy path

The five experts seek to empower participants of the one-week course to engage specifically with the challenges of adapting to new regulatory regimes and reforming utilities to deliver expanded and affordable services for the poor, while underpinning and supporting economic growth.

Private sector participation is frequently on the agenda, including the introduction of independent power producers (IPPs).

With funding from the British High Commission's Prosperity Fund, Eberhard's group is looking at ways in which lessons from the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme may be applied to other African countries.

"Not all REIPPP success factors can be easily duplicated," says Eberhard, "particularly in low-income countries. Some can be replicated with proxies; others may be ignored.

"The South African experience tells us what factors are essential in countries where the government and private sector players are strongly committed to rolling out a renewable energy programme."

Power crisis brings acceleration of solutions

"South Africa's power crisis has brought an acceleration of solutions in the form of IPPs, which has successfully channelled substantial private sector expertise and investment into grid-connected renewable energy in South Africa-competitive prices," he said.

SA's REIPPP is the fastest growing renewable energy programme in the world and has already seen significant investment flowing into the country.

Private sector investment in renewable energy generation is expected to reach R193bn following the recent announcement of another 13 preferred bidders for wind and solar photovoltaic projects by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson.

The programme's success has led to one investor labelling it "the most successful public-private partnership in Africa in the last 20 years". It is among the top 10 privately funded renewable energy programmes in the world.

"A great advantage of the SA REIPPP is (that) it provides an African-specific example from which to learn," said Eberhard.

Source: Fin24