India-South Africa Energy Conference: Success & Future Plans

Johannesburg, Nov 29 (PTI) The first energy conference between India and South Africa concluded Thursday with a pact between the two countries to train power professionals of the future.

The two-day conference was hailed as a great success by the organisers.

Titled the Matla-Urja Energy Conference, ('Matla' is Sesotho for 'strength' and 'urja' is 'energy' in Hindi), the conference saw more than 200 delegates sharing their ideas in the energy sector.

Recapping the events at a closing dinner Thursday evening, Consul General Mahesh Kumar highlighted some of the conference's successes.

"We brought together the best of Indian businesses and academia and their counterparts in South Africa. On Wednesday Indian and South African academics and researchers came together to discuss the academic power sector reforms, issues about the future of power, energy modelling, the pricing and socio-economic aspects of it. It was a day full of wonderful insights," Kumar said.

"After that, on Thursday, we took it forward on the practical aspects of how businesses approach these issues," he added.

Kumar said both days were oversubscribed.

"That speaks of the massive opportunities that presents itself to everyone in the power sector. From our perspective, these two days of engagement were very successful," the diplomat said.

Kumar reckoned two main outcomes from the conference, one of them a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Thermal Power Corporation of India and (South African parastatal electricity supplier) Eskom.

"People who are travelling from India will be able to travel to Eskom and also understand from Eskom what their other priorities are and what the opportunities are for Indian businesses to benefit from," he said.

"The other outcome was an intention that was announced between the African Energy Leadership School of the Wits Business School and the National Power Training Institute of India that will start training the power professionals of the future," Kumar added.

Prof Maurice Radebe, Head of the Wits Business School, said the conference also helped delegates better understand the UN Strategic Development Goals aimed at alleviating poverty and hunger.

"What we were talking about today between India and South Africa is how we unlock all the value that is in this place, and energy plays a key role in making sure that people do not go hungry. That's the significance of this conference," Radebe said.

He said the conference had a lot to learn from India and discussed everything around renewables, financing, and infrastructure.

"As the facilitator said: 'We in South Africa are still learning; India are doing.' Therefore, we need to close this gap between planning and doing," Radebe said, as he sought the conference to be located within the BRICS membership.

"We have to make sure that we continue to ensure that BRICS becomes successful and it is initiatives like these that will make BRICS a real force within world geopolitics," he said.