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Webinar announcement and invitation
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Exploring Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Solutions for South Africa's Energy Future
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?Date: Wednesday 8 July 2026.
Time: 10h00 to 12h40 SA time (GMT+2)
Platform: Zoom Webinar 1000
Cost: Free-of-charge, all welcome
Host: EE Business Intelligence?
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Supporters: Meridian Economics, NODES, Energy Group, Etana Energy, Plentify, Enerchy?
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Presenters
· Opening address: Nic van Doesburgh, Climate Policy & Energy Analyst, Meridian Economics.
· Presenter 1: Svein Jørgen Sønning, Chief Commercial & Technology Officer, NODES.
· Presenter 2: Jason Fairhurst, Senior Project Manager, Energy Group.
· Presenter 3: Evan Rice, CEO, Etana Energy.
· Presenter 4: Jon Kornik, CEO, Plentify.
· Wrap-up: Francis Jackson, Founder, Enerchy
Synopsis
Join EE Business Intelligence for a high-impact webinar exploring the transformative potential of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) in South Africa’s evolving electricity landscape.
VPPs offer an innovative way to aggregate, optimise and dispatch distributed energy resources (DERs) – including large scale BESS; residential, commercial, industrial and mining solar PV and BESS; electric vehicles; and demand market response – as if they were a single utility-scale power plant.
This webinar will unpack the latest technologies and business models enabling VPPs, from large scale and mining BESS, load curtailment at energy-intensive smelters, real-time control of thousands of household geysers; and the coordinated dispatch of residential, commercial, industrial and mining solar-plus-storage systems.
The webinar will also examine the future role of bi-directional power flows from electric vehicles and how these assets can provide demand response and grid services.
Leading experts will explore the policy, regulatory and digital infrastructure requirements to unlock the value of VPPs, support grid stability and enhance energy security, including participation with large-scale BES and demand flexibility in the emerging South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM).
The session is essential for stakeholders across utilities, municipalities, regulators, energy service providers, technology developers and end-users navigating South Africa’s energy transition.
Register to attend the webinar here
Presentation topics
Nic van Doesburgh, Meridian Economics
An overview of VPPs and the potential value they can provide based on international experience, and Meridian's current project to develop a South African VPP Roadmap to quantify the local opportunity, identify key barriers and enablers for VPP deployment, and define an implementation pathway to support VPP roll-out in the country.
Svein Jørgen Sønning, NODES, Norway
Overview of the status and role of VPPs in Norway and Northern Europe, and the work of NODES in this region and internationally, with lessons for South Africa. With the high penetration of EVs in Norway, the role of energy storage in fleets of cars, trucks and busses as an aggregated dispatchable VPP resource will be covered.
Jason Fairhurst, Energy Group
Focus on BESS in the mining sector in South Africa on VPP solutions and revenue stream/savings from peak shaving, demand management, backup avoidance and grid services, where demand market participation and the VPP layer though aggregation can provide dispatchable power by monetising ancillary services that no single user could access alone.
Evan Rice, Etana Energy
How licensed traders are aggregating renewable energy generation and customer demand to create high load coverage wheeled energy solutions for end users, with a case study where Etana Energy, Growthpoint and City of Cape Town implemented the first pooled wheeling of renewable electricity across multiple properties within the City’s municipal network.
Jon Kornik, Plentify
The practical journey of building residential VPPs at increasing scale and complexity – from orchestrating 8500 geysers across 13 Balwin microgrids, to demonstrating VPP performance at municipal scale through Project Smart Geyser, to the recently launched multi-appliance VPP under Project Smart Solar, and the path to GWh scale.
Francis Jackson, Enerchy
Overview with takeaways from the 5 presentations, with some own insights based on work at Green Cape on the South Africa Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), at the Energy Council of South Africa and the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM), and current work at Enerchy, with a view on the way forward for South Africa.
Register to attend the webinar here
Format
This will be a 2½ hour webinar conducted on the Zoom Webinar 1000 platform, which can accommodate up to 1000 concurrent participants/attendees. After a welcome by Chris Yelland, there will be a 20-minute VIP opening keynote address by Meridian Economics. Four expert presenters will then each have 20 minutes to present on various aspects of the subject of the webinar, followed by a 10-minute wrap-up with key takeaways by Francis Jackson of Enerchy. Thereafter there will be a 30-minute open discussion and Q & A session, and then closure and thanks.
Target audience
· Policy makers, government officials, regulators and standards bodies.
· Leaders and decision makers in business, manufacturing, industry and mining.
· Energy intensive industries, smelters and mining companies.
· Engineers, technologists, technicians, contractors and ICT professionals.
· Development finance institutions, commercial banks, investment funds and financiers.
· Renewable energy & BESS developers, EPCs, construction companies, contractors & IPPs.
· Electricity generators, transmission system operators, market operators and distributors
· Municipalities, electricity utilities, Eskom and other state-owned enterprises.
· Economic, legal, financial, accounting, consulting and planning professionals.
· Organised labour, NGOs and civil society.
· Universities, researchers and academia.
Programme
10h00 – 10h05: Welcome and housekeeping: Chris Yelland, EE Business Intelligence
10h05 – 10h25: Opening keynote address: Nic van Doesburgh, Meridian Economics.
10h25 – 10h45: Presenter 1: Svein Jørgen Sønning, NODES, Norway.
10h45 – 11h05: Presenter 2: Jason Fairhurst, Energy Group.
11h05 – 11h15: Comfort break.
11h15 – 11h35: Presenter 3: Evan Rice, Etana Energy.
11h35 – 11h55: Presenter 4: Jon Kornik, Plentify.
11h55 – 12h05: Wrap-up and key takeaways: Francis Jackson, Enerchy.
12h05 – 12h35: Open discussion and Q & A session: Moderated by Chris Yelland.
12h35 – 12h40: Thanks and closure: Chris Yelland.
Register to attend the webinar here
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