A global organisation backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to help South Africa attract much-needed investment in its municipal power grids.

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) will collaborate with various partners in projects aimed at improving the country’s grid infrastructure, according to Bloomberg. The organisation tackles energy poverty and the climate crisis by developing and scaling innovative green technology solutions in developing and emerging economies, including South Africa.

“We will shortly announce a coalition of partners who are going to support us in the municipal space,” said Ziyad Cassim, GEAPP’s South African country representative. An official statement revealing details of these partners is expected soon.

The programme will focus specifically on secondary municipalities, which often struggle to secure funding for critical infrastructure upgrades. Unlike South Africa’s large metropolitan areas, these smaller municipalities, including Rustenburg and Newcastle, face greater challenges in accessing the necessary resources for energy projects, Cassim added.

Vally Padayachee, Strategic Advisor for the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities, supports this decision. “Ideally, we would have preferred the GEAPP to focus on all the municipalities in the country. However, the GEAPP is working with limited resources and funding hence they need to be involved in municipalities that require greater support. It’s common knowledge that the metros can reasonably look after themselves,” he said. 

However, Padayachee added, availability of relevant resources for assistance from the GEAPP may be limited in these areas. “We can’t rule out that corruption is still prevalent in some municipalities. We need to ensure the assistance is used as intended and reaches the right people.”

Padayachee said the GEAPP has been successful in countries where it operates, which bodes well for South Africa.

The GEAPP, founded in 2021 by the Bezos Earth Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ikea Foundation, in collaboration with Eskom, established a training facility at Komati Power Station in Mpumalanga in 2022. The facility equips workers with the skills needed to operate and maintain renewable energy technologies.

“I think this support is coming at the right time given that South Africa is still in an energy crisis while committed to achieving decarbonisation and climate change net-zero goals,” Padayachee stated.