Plug the gaps and upskill the people: Blazing progress in the JET revolution

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City Power aim to create charging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs), including an internal EV fleet, as part of a 10-point plan to diversify the city’s energy mix.

Leading energy consultancy ÖLINGA and energy engineering firm Grenex helped bring the City’s flagship EV charging site into reality, from design to implementation. It’s another successful project that showcases their combined capacity to deliver complete energy consulting and EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) services that build local skills and help realise the Just Energy Transition (JET).

“The Just Energy Transition is a watershed opportunity for South Africa,” says Zadok Olinga, ÖLINGA’s director. “Energy costs are rising across the globe, necessitating a shift in how we generate and procure energy. But this transition has many variables, ranging from value-based infrastructure deployment to helping organisations realise their ESG [environment, social & governance] and ROI [return on investment] goals. There are also many opportunities, particularly in employment and skills development. The combined work between ÖLINGA and Grenex focuses on alignment between those considerations.”

Partners in energy innovation

ÖLINGA and Grenex are black-owned companies that deliver end-to-end energy solutions. The partnership creates a seamless value chain: ÖLINGA provides the high-level energy consultancy, audits and ESG guidance; while Grenex executes the technical energy systems EPC.

A model for stable employment

A cornerstone of their success is to hire and train young black professionals and maintain a rotation of different work projects to ensure ongoing employment.

“Employment in the energy sector can be very unstable. A lot of outsourcing work happens in the market, leaving little in-house capacity,” says Sula Ntsaluba, Grenex’s managing director. “So we push to ensure we can balance the kind of work our teams are doing. We do things differently by balancing the teams’ work so we can keep them longer. In this way, we can hold onto internal, multi-skilled teams for longer.”

Cross-pollinating skills for maximum impact

The joint partnership focuses on a range of deliverables: from comprehensive infrastructure like EV charging stations to specific areas such as new and retrofitted photovoltaic, lighting and HVAC systems.

ÖLINGA and Grenex’s teams are more effective because they cross-pollinate skills: they execute physical work in the field and compile technical reports in the office.

The team members also actively contribute to skills development, returning to their communities and schools to show future generations opportunities in the energy sector. Their business networks, which include partnerships with international vendors at the forefront of energy systems, also contribute to the success of both companies.

10MW of success – and counting

This focus on multi-skilled teams, rotating projects and strong networks has already delivered nearly 10 megawatts of projects.

Apart from the CoJ and City Power EV site, ÖLINGA and Grenex’s recent projects include: a 300-kilowatt peak install for Bidvest which combines solar and generator systems; and a 3MW energy system for the University of Johannesburg.

“Our vision is to help realise the JET era by overcoming financial hurdles, tackling youth unemployment effectively with upskilling and focus, and professional deployment of new energy sources,” says Olinga.

“We are proving that young black-owned companies can actively participate in the Just Energy Transition and increase South Africa’s available energy and decarbonisation among the public and commercial sectors.”

Image credit: Freepik