Glencore has shown support for President Ramaphosa’s relaxing of the 100MW cap in energy supply from the private sector, stating that several energy projects are already past the pre-feasibility stage.

Glencore is one of Eskom's (South Africa’s state-owned energy utility) key customers. The company owns and operates five ferrochrome plants through a joint venture with Merafe Resources, consuming nearly 1,000kVA across 22 furnaces – when all in operation. The JV maintains a leading global position in ferrochrome production, supported by its South African chromite resources. However, it has faced nearly two decades of eroding competitive advantages that can be largely attributed to rising energy tariffs from Eskom.

South Africa’s energy supply has prohibited investment in South Africa’s downstream metals and minerals sector. The country has been plagued by load shedding (rolling blackouts) since 2007, resulting in energy supply being cut off to areas for as long as 12 hours per day at the “Stage 6” level (removing 6GW of supply from the grid). High-volume consumers, such as Glencore, have at times had to scale back operations, either at the request of Eskom to help manage the national energy supply or due to operations becoming unprofitable.

Private-sector energy supply has long been considered a potential solution to South Africa's energy woes, but domestic politics and Eskom's state-ownership (as well as mismanagement and corruption) have been a barrier.  However, in 2021, the licencing threshold for private energy production was raised to 100MW and the recent announcement by the President removed that threshold completely and may just pave the way for the private sector to help feed the national grid and add renewable energy projects at a significant scale.