Britain is seeking to expand its already large renewable energy footprint in SA, says UK trade envoy for South Africa, Andrew Selous.

South Africa's notoriously erratic electricity supply has both discouraged and encouraged investment. It has surely repelled a lot of general investment - because foreign businesses, like local ones, obviously need a reliable power supply.

But it has, conversely, stimulated considerable foreign investment in renewables.

So, for instance, Andrew Selous, the UK trade envoy for South Africa and Mauritius, points out that Eskom's woes are driving significant UK commercial and industrial investment into renewable energy, making Britain the "biggest foreign investor in renewable energy in South Africa".

That investment is through companies like Globaleq which is operating two wind farms and six solar farms with a total capacity of 384MW and supporting around 1,300 jobs at the moment, plus building out a lot more.

British International Investment, the UK's development finance institution, owns 70% of Globaleq, Selous said in an interview in Cape Town.

The UK's Solar Century is developing, building, owning and operating solar power plants, including battery storage, while Gridworks is helping to expand the electricity grid capacity.

The biggest UK investor in SA by far, though, Selous said, is Hive Energy which is building a £5-billion green ammonia production plant in the Coega special economic development zone in...