Sassda Positions Stainless Steel for Growth via Johannesburg Energy Storage Summit
Sassda recently attended the 2025 Energy Storage Summit Africa, held in Sandton, Johannesburg, reinforcing its strategic commitment to identifying emerging opportunities for the stainless steel industry.
Across South Africa and the wider continent, the sector is gaining traction as utilities, industries, and municipalities seek ways to stabilise electricity supply, integrate renewable energy, and improve overall energy resilience. For a country facing power reliability challenges, large-scale battery energy storage projects are now seen as essential to ensuring grid stability and supporting economic growth. Sassda Market Intelligence Specialist Tebogo Nkwe shared valuable insights from the event, particularly from a panel discussion on “Leadership for Energy Security: From Risk to Resilience.” She noted that true leadership in energy security requires more than risk management. It demands a bold vision for resilience, built on foresight, collaboration, and innovation.
“One of the key takeaways is that we shouldn’t frame the debate as renewables versus coal. Instead, South Africa needs to build a versatile energy mix that combines renewables, nuclear and other sources, to ensure we remain competitive and resilient.”
Tebogo adds that South Africa’s evolving energy market calls for greater policy clarity and cooperation between industry, regulators, and utilities. “Businesses need to prepare for market reform, explore embedded generation and storage, understand CBAM’s impact on competitiveness, and move toward cost-reflective tariffs and competitive procurement,” she says.
Reflecting on the Summit overall, she commented, “Energy-storage solutions are building a new infrastructure landscape, and stainless steel must be part of that fabric if South Africa is to manufacture and supply smart, resilient components.”
At the forefront of the energy transition
For Sassda and its members, the Summit provided a valuable opportunity to stay at the forefront of these developments and ensure that the stainless steel industry remains aligned with the conversations shaping Africa’s clean-energy transition. Stainless steel already plays a vital role in this field from constructing durable enclosures and support structures for battery systems to manufacturing tanks, piping, and components used in hydrogen, flow, and thermal storage technologies.
Globally, demand for high-integrity materials in energy storage applications is expanding fast. Systems must withstand temperature fluctuations, corrosion, and demanding operational conditions all areas where stainless steel offers unmatched performance and longevity. As South Africa continues to localise parts of the energy-storage value chain, domestic producers, fabricators, and suppliers stand to benefit from new industrial and infrastructure requirements.
To maximise these opportunities, Sassda is encouraging members to:
- Review product offerings to align with the fast-growing storage sector, particularly in enclosures, racks, tanks, and piping systems.
- Build partnerships with energy-storage developers, EPCs, and manufacturers who require corrosion-resistant, locally sourced components.
- Monitor upcoming projects and tenders in both public and private sectors to position stainless steel solutions early in the procurement process.
Sassda’s participation in the Johannesburg Energy Storage Summit forms part of a broader effort to connect the local stainless steel industry with markets of the future. As energy storage infrastructure expands across Africa, stainless steel’s durability, sustainability, and versatility will ensure it remains a material of choice for a cleaner, more resilient energy future.