South Africa has abundant sunlight, yet we have only begun to unlock its potential to transform how we generate electricity and power our transport systems.
As electric vehicle adoption gathers momentum, solar energy presents an opportunity to address two of the country's most pressing challenges: energy security and the transition to cleaner mobility.
Encouragingly, South Africa’s evolving electricity regulatory framework is creating opportunities for businesses to play a greater role in this transition.
A significant development is the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, signed into law in August 2024 and effective on 1 January 2025.
The legislation introduces reforms intended to move South Africa away from a predominantly single-buyer electricity model towards a more competitive market with greater participation from independent electricity producers.
This shift is important.
South Africa’s energy system cannot rely solely on large, centralised power stations.
It must also make room for decentralised solutions that generate electricity closer to where it is consumed.
For businesses investing in independent renewable energy infrastructure, how regulators treat off-grid generation matters.
Systems that operate independently of the national grid can qualify for exemptions from certain licensing and registration requirements administered by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), reducing regulatory barriers to investment.
This creates opportunities for innovative energy models, including solar-powered electric vehicle charging infrastructure that can operate without relying on electricity supplied by the national grid.
I believe the shift to solar-powered microgrids represents the biggest fundamental change in the electric power industry in a century.
By combining local solar generation with battery storage, these systems change how electricity is generated, stored and supplied, bringing production closer to where energy is needed.
Every kilowatt-hour solar panels generate is electricity harvested from sunlight where it is needed.
It doesn’t have to be drawn from South Africa’s predominantly coal-powered grid, nor does it add pressure on transmission infrastructure during periods of high demand.
The practical benefits of this approach are already becoming evident.
Three operational charging stations have collectively charged 1,513 electric vehicles and supplied 62,974 kilowatt-hours of energy.
By generating renewable electricity instead of drawing power from Eskom’s predominantly coal-based grid, the network has avoided an estimated 70.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and has also achieved an estimated net carbon dioxide saving of 60 tonnes.
These figures demonstrate that solar-powered charging infrastructure is already supplying electricity to motorists while reducing reliance on the national grid and avoiding emissions.
According to the Automotive Business Council (Naamsa), South Africans bought 18,945 new energy vehicles in the first eight months of 2026, up 13.4% from total 2025 sales.
The growth in rechargeable vehicles is particularly notable.
Plug-in hybrid sales reached 6,919 units by August 2026, compared with 2,810 for the whole of 2025.
Battery electric vehicle sales rose to 2,622 units, up from 1,088 the previous year.
Importantly, electrification is beginning to extend beyond passenger cars into light and medium commercial vehicles.
This signals a growing opportunity to transform not only how South Africans travel, but also how goods and services move across the country.
However, the growth of electric mobility raises an important question: where will the electricity to power these vehicles come from?
If South Africa simply replaces petrol and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles that depend entirely on an already constrained, coal-heavy electricity system, we risk transferring part of the energy challenge from the fuel pump to the power grid.
Solar-powered charging infrastructure can support the growing electric vehicle market while adding new, dedicated electricity generation capacity.
Combined with battery storage, it can enable charging beyond daylight hours, making renewable energy a practical solution for transport infrastructure.
Electric vehicles convert stored energy into movement far more efficiently than internal combustion engine vehicles.
Electric vehicles can convert about 75% to 90% of available energy into motion, compared with roughly 20% to 30% for conventional petrol and diesel vehicles, where much of the energy is lost as heat.
A sustainable transport system should therefore combine cleaner energy sources with technologies that minimise energy waste.
Solar-powered electric mobility brings these two objectives together.
World Energy Day reminds us of the importance of access to safe, reliable and sustainable energy.
It also encourages countries to strengthen energy policies, share knowledge and invest in the skills and technologies needed to build a more secure energy future.
Regulatory reform is an important part of the process, but legislation alone will not build the infrastructure required for a cleaner transport system.
We also need investment, innovation and a willingness to rethink traditional approaches to electricity generation and distribution.
The private sector plays an important role by demonstrating that decentralised renewable energy systems can complement the national electricity network and support new economic opportunities.
Our experience shows that solar-powered charging is more than a future concept. We can deploy it today to meet the needs of a changing automotive industry.
The sun already provides South Africa with an extraordinary energy resource.
The challenge now is to build the infrastructure and regulatory environment that let us use it fully.
Our roads can become part of that energy future, powered not by the constraints of yesterday’s electricity system, but by the possibilities of tomorrow’s clean energy economy.
