South Africa – When green energy ambitions meet the realities

Join IDA Global Development for an evening on South Africa's energy transition — bringing together a researcher's perspective on the socioeconomic stakes, the Danish Energy Agency's technical advisory work with the South African government, and a development finance perspective on funding the build-out of renewable energy.

Programme

17:00 Welcome by IDA Global Development

17:10 Beyond the Coalface: Navigating South Africa's Energy and Socio-Economic Transformation by Gaylor Montmason-Clair, Co-Founding Director, Southern Transitions

17:35 Advising the transition – Danish technical support to South Africa's energy sector reform by Helge Rosenberg, Team Leader, South Africa Team, Danish Energy Agency

18:00 Break with sandwiches and networking (45 min)

18:45 Financing the green transition – risks and opportunities in financing green transition investments in South Africa by Thomas Hougaard, Managing Director and Co-Head of Green Energy & Infrastructure, Impact Fund Denmark

19:10 Panel discussion and audience Q&A with all three speakers — on ambitions, obstacles, jobs, financing, and what a just transition in South Africa actually requires

19:45 Closing remarks and invitation to future IDA Global Development events

20:00 Thank you for tonight!

Background

South Africa's energy supply has for decades relied heavily on coal from its own domestic resources. Powerful economic interests are tied up in the energy sector and the coal industry, and a great many jobs depend on it. At the same time, the country holds vast untapped potential in renewable energy, and the government has laid out concrete plans for phasing it in.

In the years ahead, South Africa faces the considerable challenge of turning these plans into a genuinely green energy supply, all while liberalizing the electricity market. Key obstacles include creating new jobs in an economy already burdened by very high unemployment, expanding the transmission grid to reach the regions with the greatest wind resources, and navigating the competing interests of the powerful utility Eskom alongside various government and industry stakeholders.

A researcher from South Africa will speak about the major socioeconomic challenges involved, while representatives from the Danish Energy Agency and Impact Fund Denmark (formerly IFU), which administers Danish development assistance in support of the climate-friendly transition, will discuss the technical advice being provided to the government on transforming the energy system, as well as the financing of renewable energy projects.

About the speakers

Gaylor Montmason-Clair – Director and Co-Founder, Southern Transitions

Gaylor Montmasson-Clair is a Director and Co-Founder of Southern Transitions, a Global South ‘just transition’ think-and-do-tank. He is also a Research Associate and Guest Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED). Prior to that, Gaylor was a Senior Economist at Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), a South Africa-based economic policy research institute, where he led work on sustainability and just transition. He was also the Facilitator for the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), the industrialisation plan for South Africa’s renewable energy and battery storage value chain. Gaylor has been working in policy analysis and development, economic and climate diplomacy, and strategic facilitation for more than 15 years. He has carried extensive work on the (just) transition to an inclusive green economy from a Global South perspective, with a focus on policy frameworks, industrial development and just transition. He holds two Master’s degree, respectively in International Affairs from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) of Grenoble, France, and in Energy and Environment Economics from the Grenoble Faculty of Economics, France. He is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Helge Rosenberg – Chief Advisor and Country Manager (South Africa), Danish Energy Agency

Helge Rosenberg is Chief Advisor and Country Manager (South Africa) within the Centre for Global Energy Cooperation at the Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen), a role held since April 2024 (previously Country Manager for Egypt, 2021–2024). He leads the Agency's technical assistance to South African counterparts — including DMRE, Eskom, NERSA and the IPP Procurement Programme Office — on energy planning, market design and renewable energy integration. Before this, he spent over two decades at Haldor Topsoe A/S, including four years as Managing Director of Haldor Topsoe SA in South Africa (2012–2016), giving him first-hand experience of the country's energy and industrial sectors.

Thomas Hougaard – Managing Director and Co-Head of Green Energy & Infrastructure, Impact Fund Denmark

Thomas Hougaard is Managing Director and Co-Head of Green Energy & Infrastructure at Impact Fund Denmark (formerly the Investment Fund for Developing Countries, IFU), Denmark's state-owned development finance institution. In this role, he leads investments of risk capital — through equity, loans and guarantees — into renewable energy, infrastructure, water and waste companies across developing countries and emerging markets, mobilising private capital alongside public partners such as the Danish state and Danish pension funds. He has spoken publicly about Impact Fund Denmark's efforts to raise blended-finance vehicles for green infrastructure, describing the fund's approach as impact growth capital that targets both competitive financial returns and measurable development outcomes.