- Seriti Green CEO Peter Venn urged African-led investment and ownership in the energy transition at aef 2025.
- aef 2025 convened over 6,000 delegates, including 25 ministers and 30 utility heads, to advance energy access and regional integration across Africa.
Peter Venn, CEO of Seriti Green, issued a strong call for African leadership in the energy transition during his address at the Africa Energy Forum (aef) 2025, currently underway in Cape Town for the first time in its 27-year history.
The Wednesday, June 18 session at the event organised by EnergyNet Ltd, which spotlighted Seriti Green’s projects, focused on “How the Sector is Embracing Energy Transition.”
Venn said, “I have attended these events for thirteen years, and it’s time for us to change. In the coming years, I hope that 90 per cent of the investors here will be African. I don’t believe those from afar can tell us what to do. That’s how we will change things here and overcome the current wall of resistance.”
Seriti Green’s Mpumalanga wind project, Ummbila Emoyeni, has drawn significant attention. The 900 MW facility includes 800 MWh of battery storage and has reached financial close. Infrastructure development is underway, with 1,187 workers on site as of mid-June. Venn revealed that Seriti has launched a 10-year local employment programme and registered 16,000 people on its jobs portal.
Venn warned that South Africa must urgently double its electricity supply within two decades and cannot do so without strong political will. “Without buy-in and real government support, it becomes impossible,” he said.
He also pushed back against the belief that decarbonisation eliminates jobs. “More than 50 per cent of the skills we need for renewables already exist in the coal sector. There is a fallacy that all jobs are lost. We are seeing the transition unfold before us, and it is possible to grow dignity and capacity if we are intentional,” he noted.
Beyond employment, Seriti Green is integrating local vendors into the project supply chain. Through its jobs portal, vendors can bid for tenders such as fencing, catering, and waste removal, with Seriti offering training and compliance support. The company is reusing water from mining operations, investing R50 million in port upgrades at Richards Bay, and donating a new weather radar to support environmental monitoring.
“This is not just about electrons. It’s about ecosystems. We have to bring communities with us. The energy transition is technically simple. Socially, it’s the hardest part,” Venn added.
Meanwhile, at another session, speakers from Nigeria, Senegal, the African Development Bank, and Siemens Energy highlighted persistent challenges in transmission infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and investment risk. Discussions focused on megawatts and mechanisms, how to de-risk capital, support homegrown innovation, and build cross-border power systems.
The forum, organised by EnergyNet Ltd. and held from June 17 to 20, 2025, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), has gathered over 6,000 energy professionals, including ministers, utility heads, investors, developers, and youth delegates. Participants are tackling one of Africa’s most urgent challenges: expanding energy access and driving the low-carbon transition while ensuring economic inclusion.
Furthermore, aef 2025 carries added strategic significance ahead of South Africa’s G20 meeting in September in Mpumalanga. Over 25 African energy ministers, 30 utility CEOs, African Development Bank officials, financiers, developers, and technology companies have joined the event. aef is co-located with the Youth Energy Summit (YES!), which has drawn more than 5,000 young professionals and students, reinforcing the continent’s focus on energy justice, innovation, and generational renewal.
Sessions at aef cover various topics, including regional power integration, battery storage, wheeling frameworks, and digital infrastructure. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Africa must attract $190 billion annually by 2030, two-thirds of which must be for clean energy. Forum leaders are working to close that investment gap through financing and policy collaboration.
On the other hand, the Youth Energy Summit amplified younger voices across panels on financing models, gender equity in the energy workforce, and emerging African tech hubs in energy services. The growing youth presence at aef signals a broader shift toward long-term, inclusive energy planning.
Aef’s arrival in South Africa is timely and symbolic as the country balances deep coal dependency with one of Africa’s most advanced renewable energy procurement frameworks. Yet grid constraints, labour challenges, and political uncertainty slow progress.
As the forum enters its final days, with ministerial panels and closed-door investment roundtables ahead, one message rings loud and clear: African solutions must drive Africa’s energy future, and that leadership must be visible, verifiable, and just.