Electricity and Control October 2025

Energy management + energy e iciency

Balancing climate goals and grid realities in South Africa Taking a closer look at South Africa’s energy transition Danie Möller, Chief EPC O‚icer at Mulilo, highlights the obstacles, possibilities and priorities, recognising that balancing climate goals with grid realities is tougher than it looks.

Danie Möller of Mulilo.

I n the energy sector, progress is not linear. Infrastructure built decades ago, although innovative for its time, demands re-engineering in today’s more populated and environmentally conscious world. Historically, power infrastructure has always been about the needs of the people. Environmental concerns were few and far between. But now we have global climate goals that must be pursued. While these targets are welcomed, we cannot overlook the consideration that our grid capacity must serve all South Africans – alongside the urgent need for sustainable energy reform. That’s why the South African government has conceptualised and planned the Just Energy Transition (JET). As a policy, the JET helps us decarbonise our energy system in a way that also protects livelihoods, supports economic development, and ensures no one is left behind. It’s about balancing climate goals with social and energy availability realities on the ground. To support this, the government recently introduced new regulations under the Climate Change Act, establishing mandatory carbon budgets for major emitters and stricter 2031-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets, raising the stakes for a transition that balances technology, grid stability, and compliance. With these regulations in place, the aim is to build a cleaner system while keeping the grid stable and the lights on. Quite doable with the right technology stack.

No single technology can do it all Even the cleanest, most promising solution does not oper ate in a vacuum. Renewables are a good example: they are variable by nature. We can’t rely on them alone to power an entire economy – not yet anyway. That’s where technologies like battery energy storage systems (BESS) have a significant role to play. BESS gives us the ability to smooth out short-term fluctuations, stabilise voltages, and make renewables more dispatchable. We are now starting to see battery systems support the grid by providing immediate reserve capacity. The next step for BESS is to begin offering grid-forming functions which, traditionally, only fossil-fuel-based rotating power plants could provide. Grid-forming technology differs from grid following as it actively stabilises the network by injecting synthetic inertia, which replicates the rotating mass of traditional thermal generators, helping to smooth out unusual electrical swings following network faults. The functions of grid forming technology include helping to restore an entire grid following a system-wide collapse. This contrasts starkly with the more traditional grid following technology in current wind and solar plants, which usually disconnect and isolate themselves following a network event. This further destabilises the network and limits the number of plants that can be connected to the grid safely.

[Source: Mulilo]

Mulilo aims to bring 5 GW of renewable energy and battery energy storage projects into construction and operation by 2028.

10 Electricity + Control OCTOBER 2025