By Eamonn Ryan
At Solar & Storage Live Africa in Gauteng, the session ‘Unlocking the grid: solving SA’s interconnection bottlenecks’ turned into a candid fireside chat. Moderated by Maria Michael, managing director of Michael and Co Sustainable Power, together with Percy Koji, president and CEO: Hosana Green Energy, the discussion went beyond policy headlines to unpack what it actually takes for an Independent Power Producer (IPP) to connect to the grid in South Africa.
Moderated by Maria Michael, managing director of Michael and Co Sustainable Power.
© RACA Journal
Michael, an electrical engineer with over 15 years’ experience in energy management and sustainability, has worked across South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria. Her background ranges from policy-linked efficiency programmes to managing a national energy optimisation project for Pick n Pay. With that experience, she framed the session around one central theme: bottlenecks.
“The key word I took from the previous session was bottlenecks,” she told the audience, explaining that this conversation would move “behind the scenes” into how one IPP navigated Eskom’s grid queue and the practical realities of project development.
Her guest, Koji, brought that lived experience. A self-described “proud villager” from the North West Province, Percy has spent over 20 years as an entrepreneur, first in tourism (running Travel With Confidence, TWC) and then in green energy. He now leads two 100MW solar projects in the province, including one in the Greater Taung Municipality, his home region.
This article introduces their perspectives and sets up the series from Solar & Storage Live Africa’s flagship grid-interconnection session. The following pieces dive into the step‑by‑step process, ethical challenges, and advice for emerging IPPs and clean‑energy entrepreneurs.
