In February 2021, RES4Africa Foundation will be launching AM-Powering Connexions, a series of monthly morning appointments addressed to the South African energy community to share ideas and resources and to create connections and engagement opportunities. Due to the current situation, the appointments will kick off online, but in the future, they will be held physically.
AM-Powering Connexions is promoted by the RES4Africa Foundation in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Pretoria, CSIR, Nedbank, SAESA, SAPVIA and SAWEA.
Concept
The purpose of the initiative is to start the working day by meeting people involved or interested in the energy sector over a joint virtual breakfast, while still making it to work on time. An easy way to broaden each other’s horizons through a real discussion, and an opportunity to raise points of common interest.
The first session will focus on the repurposing of the dismissing coal-fired plants, and the discussion will be guided and facilitated by Nelisiwe Magubane, co-founder of Matleng Energy Solutions (Pty) Ltd; as previous Director General of the Department of Energy of South Africa, she was also responsible for the development of the Integrated Resource Plan. The session will be opened by Paolo Cuculi, Ambassador of Italy in Pretoria and Roberto Vigotti, Secretary General of RES4Africa Foundation. Jean-Pierre Sánchez and Janek Winand from Siemens Gamesa will then present previous experiences of coal-plants repurposing, while Mandy Rambharos, Head of the Just Energy Transition of ESKOM, will provide an update of the country’s repurposing plan.
Participation and subscription
To maintain the focus of the discussion, participation is restricted to stakeholders from the South African energy community and RES4Africa members, and is completely free of charge. All admitted participants will receive instructions on how to take part in the session and will be invited to join the AM-Powering Connexions LinkedIn Group, where they can share information and initiate conversations.
Requests to join can be presented via this form.
