A glimpse of what’s possible
One of the most beneficial elements of South Africa’s JET is the emergence of Socially Owned Renewable Energy (SORE) — renewable energy projects that are owned, governed, or meaningfully shared by communities and workers.
These models are recommended by the Presidential Climate Commission, which advises government on how to address climate change through mitigation, adaptation, and the JET. They are also strongly backed by trade unions and civil society organisations.
Zukisani Jakavula (pictured above in a video by Oxpeckers Investigative Journalism) grew up on Riverbank Farms near Hamburg, in the Eastern Cape. After recognising the potential for a wind farm on local land, he undertook the painstaking work of tracing the descendants and current owners of land whose title deeds were last updated in the 1800s, with help from an international partner, as documented by Oxpeckers.
Eventually, 11 landowners were identified. Today, the Wesley-Ciskei Wind Farm allocates 1.5% of its revenue to these families and is often cited as a rare example of a renewable project delivering direct community benefit in a province where most wind farms are located on white-owned farmland.
“We were not dealing with one owner here — we were dealing with generations and generations,” Jakavula said. “The idea was for them to form 11 family trusts, with beneficiaries. That took quite a while.”
His story shows both the difficulty and the possibility of negotiating community benefit in renewable energy − slow, complex work that can nonetheless result in real empowerment.
SORE projects can take several forms, as described by the PCC;
In off-grid areas, communities can own solar installations that provide free basic electricity.
In grid-connected areas, community or tenant cooperatives can own rooftop solar that supplements Eskom’s supply.
On communal land, communities can receive rental income or a share of profits from renewable projects.
In workplaces — including factories, mines, and large institutions — workers can own renewable energy projects, helping to protect jobs, particularly in sectors like the motor industry.
These models matter because ownership changes how energy projects are conceived and implemented, who benefits from them, and whether South Africa’s appallingly high inequality is alleviated as our energy system shifts.
Socially Owned Renewable Energy is the clearest way to make these principles a reality.
