CONGRESS SPEAKERS
Hear what the industry experts have to say about green energy and renewables.
- Sumaya Nassiep (Eskom – Just Energy Transition)
- Mike Teke (Seriti Resources – Adapting Coal Mining for a greener future)
- Rentia van Tonder (Standard Bank – Project Finance for Energy Projects)
- Mxolisi Makhatini (NECSA – Nuclear options)
- Wayne Glossop (Wartsila – Gas opportunities)
- Ronald Marais (Eskom Transmission – Grid Planning)
- Shirley Salvoldi (Eskom – Navigating Electricity Tariffs)
- Joanne Dean (South African Energy Storage Association – Battery Energy Storage)
- Aradhna Pandarum (CSIR – Socio-economic impact and skills)
Sumaya Nassiep
Eskom Senior Manager
Sumaya Nassiep holds position of Eskom Senior Manager and currently supports the Just Energy Transition office. She currently drives Eskom’s technology localisation initiatives and is the Eskom technical liaison to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to ensure commodity pipeline localisation of components critical to enabling quality and timeous delivery against Eskom’s JET Programme objectives. Sumaya currently plays an pivotal role in Eskom’s power plant repurposing initiatives, particularly the establishment of sustainable community based SMME initiatives surrounding planned decommissioned power plants.
She holds a Masters Degree in Engineering, specialising in Power Engineering, from the University of Kwazulu-Natal and has 28-year’s experience in the Electricity sector. Sumaya previously held the position of Acting General Manager of Eskom’s Research, Testing & Development Unit where she oversaw both operational and strategic R&D initiatives. During her tenure she also established an Eskom Intellectual Property Office and spearheaded the development of an Eskom New Revenue Stream Incubator. Apart from actively driving technology innovation and localisation within Eskom, she also serves on a number of energy industry boards and champion’s the transition towards a future utility business model through the development and incubation of alternative value add service offerings and revenue stream generation for Eskom.
Shirley Salvoldi
Corporate Specialist (Retail Pricing Distribution Division) Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd | South Africa
Shirley is an Eskom Corporate Specialist with 41 years’ experience in the electricity supply industry.
Shirley is responsible in Eskom for electricity pricing policies, the design of tariffs, the development of the strategic pricing direction for tariffs and the retail tariff submission to Nersa.
She has been involved initiatives such being part of the Eskom team for REIPP programme, the Distribution Tariff Code and the Chairperson of the NRS 069 working group. Shirley has presented and published papers in various forums related to, tariff design, pricing strategies for electrification, dynamic pricing for customers and aspects of tariff design resulting from the introduction of embedded generation, in particular related to wheeling frameworks and wheeling charges, net-billing tariffs and more recently exploring feed-in tariffs.
Shirley has a B Comm from Unisa and an MSC from Warwick University.
Rentia Van Tonder
Head, Power, Client Coverage Standard Bank Group
Rentia joined Standard Bank in 2014, with a focus on developing and implementing opportunities for Standard Bank to be the leading funder of renewable and power projects in SA and the rest of Africa.
Rentia’s experience range across various sectors where she previously worked in the Economic Research department and Mining Business Unit at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and was seconded to the office of the minister of Minerals and Energy as advisor. Also has extensive experience in the Wood & Paper sector and Green Industries, when she led a team focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency, fuel-based energy, and other green related initiatives. She has been focusing on the power sector since 2010, driving towards funding and growing the sector across the continent.
Dr Pearson Sibanda
Chief Executive Officer of Exilite 318 CC
Dr Pearson Sibanda is a serial entrepreneur who was, until 2017, an electrical engineering consultant with a company he co-founded in 2001. Currently, Pearson is the Chief Executive Officer of Exilite 318 CC, a business which provides business advisory services focusing on Strategic Leadership and System Thinking and expert advice on business expansion into the rest of the African continent.
Pearson’s passion presently is in entrepreneurship. His latest assignment was as a Business and Enterprise Development Expert for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for their supervision missions in Mozambique and South Africa. He has also been appointed as Agribusiness and Value Chain Development Expert by IFAD for their mission in Eritrea. He has given lectures on the subject of Entrepreneurship and Systems Thinking at various Business Schools whenever time has allowed. He presented a paper on “The natural resources curse” at the conference on sustainable development held at the University of Michigan in 2019.
Dr Sibanda has held Strategic Leadership sessions with the Board of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, Senior Executives of BankMed and top executives at Wood PLC among others. During these seminars he shared insights on System Thinking.
Pearson is a mentor with the Innovation Hub in Pretoria and also a mentor with the Tony Elumelu Foundation which seeks to promote entrepreneurship on the African continent. He has worked closely with business incubators and has extensive networks across the SADC region.
Dr Sibanda completed both the Management Development and Senior Management Programmes at the University of Pretoria and also holds the Executive MBA and a PhD in Business Administration degrees, both from the University of Cape Town (UCT). His doctoral studies focused on risk perception and how it affects the entrepreneurial drive. He has supervised three MBA students at the University of Cape Town.
Ms. Jo Dean
Pr. Eng. - Intl. CRM - Carbon Projects; B. Eng. - Mech. Plant Process; B. Eng. - Env. & Sus.) (SA & Illinois) - her roots remain African.
Board Member and spokesperson SAESA Board Member and Spokesperson , SAEEC; Vice Chair SAIEE (Energy Storage Chapter) and Vice Chair of SAREC; Member of numerous Energy and Carbon Committees with Government on Renewable Energy, Storage, Decarbonization and GHG Targets and technical commission to Climate Change – all flowing into the Just Energy Transition.
Jo has 18 years’ experience in design and construction of process and flow control plants in the Mining Sector. In 2000, inspired by Attenborough, Bloomberg, Ban Ki Moon and Figueres together with her intrinsic need to make a difference to the world, she joined the Chamber of Commerce overseeing government relationships and LED development, while furthering her studies in environmental engineering, specialising in waste, water and energy disciplines coupled to Carbon Reduction Project Development (Illinois & GHG Protocol). Armed with “practical experience and knowledge”, the once “wannabe activist”, evolved into a strategist in developing carbon reduction projects in the waste and energy spaces. She is currently driving decarbonisation project development, mainly in South Africa and the SADC Region. From the energy sector she is championing a nascent disruptor, Energy Storage in Africa, which has the greatest potential for unlocking value chains and localisation for Africa.
Her belief: “The rationale underlying the nascent endeavour of a green economy for developing countries, is that the market SHOULD become the vehicle for tackling the environmental crises of climate change, and that Africa can and will make a quantum leap as opposed to the ‘trapped’ Annex.1 world powers that cannot due to their historical industrial choices made…”
Wayne Glossop
Business Development Manager for Wartsila Energy Solutions Southern Africa
Wayne is the Business Development Manager for Wartsila Energy Solutions Southern Africa. He has been in the Energy Business Development field for 10 years working on gas; solar; battery; and hybrid energy projects. Prior to this, he has undertaken project development; project management; consulting; and engineering roles with BioTherm Energy and Eskom. With over 18 years experience in the power sector, Wayne is well versed in the challenges and opportunities within the regional power sector and is passionate about driving for positive change towards establishing a sustainable society within his markets. Wayne has a Masters in Power Engineering; an MBA; and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Aradhna Pandarum
Acting Research Group Leader for Energy Industry team in the Energy Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Aradhna Pandarum is currently the Acting Research Group Leader for Energy Industry team in the Energy Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Howard College UKZN and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (Renewable Energy) from University of Witwatersrand. She serves as a technical board member of Cigre South Africa, representing the country in the international C6 study committee on active distribution systems and distributed energy resources. She is also registered as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). She is passionate about research in the renewable energy space. Whilst working at Eskom, she has gained immense experience in research, testing, and development, especially on renewable energy, that was predominantly centered on embedded generation and its’ technical, economic, operational, and environmental impact.
At the CSIR, Aradhna is the programme and group lead for research work related to the Just Energy Transition. The focal point of this work is to promote social justice and create unique opportunities for the energy industry hence touching lives through innovation with the aim targeted at combating poverty, unemployment and inequality in South Africa.
Mike Teke
CEO | Seriti Resources
Mike Teke is the CEO of Seriti Resources Holdings which he co-founded in 2018. His qualifications include a BA (Ed), BEd, BA (Hons) and an MBA.
Mike has held HR roles at several companies including Unilever, Bayer, Impala Platinum and BHP Billiton. Upon his departure at BHP Billiton, he became a founding member of Optimum Coal where he took on the role of CEO, and later Non-Executive Chairman until 2015.
Mike was also the VP of the Chamber of Mines in SA between 2011/12 and subsequently became the President from 2013 to 2017. He became the Chairman of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal Board in 2012 and stepped down in 2016 to become a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.
Mike currently serves as Executive Chairman and controlling shareholder of Masimong Group Holdings and Non-Executive Chairman for a number of companies, including Rolfes, Anchor Group, and is the Chairman of Council at the University of Johannesburg.