Dear Colleagues and Stakeholders,
Please join me in welcoming Ms Faith Mkhacwa to SANEDI. Ms Mkhacwa is appointed as the General Manager for Energy Efficiency at the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI), effective November 2023. SANEDI takes Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (DSM) initiatives very serious, hence the appointment of a seasoned Energy Practitioner. In simple language, Energy Efficiency is the use of less energy to perform the same task and produce same outcome. It delivers a number of benefits, most notably is the reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and reduction of energy consumption leading to financial savings. Energy efficiency and DSM are therefore a key component of South Africa’s strategy to deal with energy crisis and also achieve climate change targets. As we improve the energy efficiency, we need less electricity and thus relying less on carbon-intensive power plants and transport systems. Ms Mkhacwa will therefore play a pivotal role in assisting SANEDI, the DMRE and the country to achieve the above objectives. Ms. Mkhacwa has a Master of Business Leadership degree from UNISA, Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from North West University, and is a certified Energy Manager.
She is an international Energy Management expert and certified Renewable Energy Project Developer with more than 15 years’ experience in the energy (generation, transmission and distribution), industrial energy management and energy efficiency sectors. She represented South Africa on the ISO technical committee for energy management, ISO/TC 301 and have worked on more than 600 industrial projects in Africa, focusing on implementing internationally recognised energy efficiency and climate change initiatives.Page | 2 Ms. Mkhacwa is currently the Group Head of Energy and Climate Change at GOLDFIELDS (PTY) LTD, responsible for development and implementation of the Group Energy and Climate Change strategies for ten (10) operations across five (5) countries, and providing global governance and technical oversight for energy management while ensuring alignment with respective countries’ regulatory framework. She is also advising the Executive Board and regions on key technical matters related to energy and climate change. Other previous positions included being a Snr Project Manager for Industrial Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects at the CSIR, responsible for project management and development of climate change mitigation projects. She provided expert advice on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, also worked for Eskom as a Project Lead / C&I Engineering Management, and worked for ABB as a Project Manager for Renewable Energy projects. We look forward to the value that Ms. Mkhacwa will add to the Energy Efficiency and DSM portfolio at SANEDI and her leadership in the implementation of the country’s priority energy efficiency and DSM projects.
Dr Titus Mathe
CEO, SANEDI
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