The renewable energy market in SA is booming, ushering in an era of multiple opportunities for stakeholders. Qualifying producers can now legally sell electricity to the government.
To date, the government has procured nearly 9GW of renewable energy, of which 1.5GW is solar. In addition, SA has set a target to install more than 8GW of solar energy by 2030.
The government launched its independent power producer (IPP) renewable energy programme in 2011. Since then, Eskom’s failure to provide adequate electricity to citizens and businesses has become more acute. More recently, the government has approved a package of R157bn to hasten the country’s “just transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
The programme has been widely praised as a resounding success, spurring local and foreign investment in the country.
With demand for electricity exceeding supply, SA is a hot market to develop renewable energy infrastructure projects. The big question, however, is who is monitoring the impact of these billion-rand projects on people and the planet?
In that regard, environmental social governance (ESG) monitoring and reporting is important for companies.
ESG requires firms to monitor and report the sustainable and ethical impact of their operations on the environment and society. With climate change being a world priority, ESG reporting for companies is necessary across industries and jurisdictions, and companies need to be transparent about their activities.
ESG reporting provides transparency. It also allows companies to report on their ESG efforts and progress. In SA, companies that fail to fulfil their ESG obligations tend to become vulnerable to community protests. Besides, poor ESG efforts can jeopardise a company’s licence to operate. In terms of business, being responsible and collaborating with stakeholders translates to better profits.
With AI (artificial intelligence) sharply in focus all over the world, it is not surprising that SA’s young minds have sought and found a technological solution to ESG reporting.
Hashveer Singh, a chartered accountant and founder and MD of Veers Group, is an example of a young and dedicated innovator who saw an opportunity to build an ESG tech platform. The platform, known as Reatec, was launched by a renewable energy project in the Northern Cape.
The project encountered several problems that the Veers Group wanted to solve. “We invested in ESG tech and built it from the ground up,” says Singh, adding that the platform was designed to provide verified data and increase ESG visibility and transparency at the board level.
Since then, the company has been up and running and has become a commercial partner for its renewable energy clients. Reatec is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that streamlines an organisation’s ESG programme.
What makes SaaS unique is that it is cloud-based software hosted on remote servers, maintained and updated by the service provider, and delivered to customers via web browsers, mobile apps and an application programming interface.
Reatec uses Amazon Web Services as its cloud provider to ensure that clients’ data is always protected. The platform works on renewable energy infrastructure projects and supports IPPs in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape to feed clean energy into the national grid.
“We bring transparency and analytics to the ESG sector based on verified data,” says Singh.
The majority of Reatec clients have commitments at the IPP level, SLP level and basic economic empowerment. Often these commitments are treated as a tick-box exercise without really getting the best value for money and verified data that the work has been done.
“On several occasions we have seen economic development clients end up with a R1m bill without knowing what the impact of that bill was on the ground. This is a consistent problem across all sectors,” Singh says.
Reatec’s ESG platform provides accountability and ensures that economic development is not treated as ticking a box. The platform has played its part in attracting more than 450 SMEs. It has monitored key performance indicators from various perspectives that include revenue, job creation and women-owned business development.
“We have been able to report on the impact to our clients to show the proven benefits on the ground,” Singh says. “We have also reduced the reporting burden on our clients, allowing them to focus on their economic development strategies.”
But companies that neglect ESG have a hard time attracting the right talent. A clear mission and vision on sustainability and diversity creates a sense of pride among employees. Therefore, great companies with good ESG scores attract better talent. This makes ESG a key component of corporate strategy.
Singh agrees: “Our platform allows CEOs to manage this element (ESG) very actively as well, and that’s why we are building verified accountability.”
The growth opportunities for Reatec, which employs 132 people, are immeasurable given that mobile operators are considering on-site renewable energy solutions from SA.
The platform is already working with some telecom operators and the banking sector. This means that a company founded by young locals is staking a claim in an industry that is still in its infancy and is likely to grow with them, providing an early-starter advantage.
Singh has identified an opportunity to build a great company with the potential to shape the transparency and accountability of infrastructure development projects worldwide. Reatec has the potential to grow and employ more young people.
• Lourie is the founder and editor of TechFinancials.
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