This conversation with Brenda Martin will reflect briefly on her experience as an energy practitioner who has immersed herself equally in the work of community-owned distributed energy, national energy policy and utility-scale renewable power supply. She will touch on how she navigates ethical and practical considerations within these domains and will then invite discussion of the many layers of, and opportunities in achieving a national energy transition in the complex South Africa that we know and love.
Having spent the major part of her career working within the Southern African Development sector, followed by a 3-year period as a researcher in issues of African renewable and nuclear power policy, Brenda Martin was appointed as CEO of the South African Wind Energy Association in October 2016. Martin is a self-confessed true-believer in renewable power, in its capacity to offer affordable, clean, fast and sustainable energy access as well as its capacity to realise the successful achievement of South Africa’s energy transition away from a dependence on coal.
