Reliable energy remains the foundation of economic growth – without it, businesses cannot plan, investors hesitate and opportunities are lost before they are even created, Trade, Industry and Competition Deputy Minister Alexandra Abrahams said, speaking at an Energy One-Stop Shop Technical Working Group meeting on June 23.

The Energy One-Stop Shop serves as the primary institutional vehicle for derisking and accelerating energy investments, positioned as a centralised, frictionless gateway for project developers.

Abrahams said reliable energy was fundamental to unlocking economic growth, enabling industrial expansion, restoring investor confidence and creating meaningful opportunities for citizens.

“That is why the Energy One-Stop Shop is such a critical initiative. It reflects a deliberate shift in the way government facilitates energy investment. Its purpose extends beyond administrative coordination; it is designed to create a streamlined, predictable and efficient regulatory environment that enhances investor confidence and enables energy projects to move from concept to generation as quickly and effectively as possible,” she averred.

Abrahams posited that, by reducing regulatory bottlenecks and improving coordination across government institutions, the Energy One-Stop Shop would help accelerate project implementation, attract investment and strengthen energy security.

She emphasised the importance of breaking down institutional silos and strengthening interdepartmental coordination.

Abrahams highlighted effective collaboration across government institutions as essential to the successful implementation of Energy One-Stop Shop’s objectives, ensuring greater certainty, efficiency and ease of doing business for energy investors.

“The introduction of an integrated online permitting portal has the potential to fundamentally modernise how South Africa processes energy-related approvals. This is an opportunity to move away from outdated sequential approval systems toward a more efficient model of concurrent processing.

“Instead of developers navigating fragmented approval channels one at a time, departments should be able to process applications simultaneously, share information dynamically, and operate within standardised timelines,” she pointed out.

Abrahams called on the country to accelerate investment in generation capacity to reduce electricity shortages and support long-term economic growth.

She stressed that project development and approval timelines must be significantly shortened to ensure that energy infrastructure is delivered at the pace required.

“By significantly reducing these timelines, we can accelerate investment, strengthen energy security and create the conditions necessary for sustained industrial growth, job creation and long-term economic prosperity.”

While emphasising the need to reduce delays, Abrahams cautioned that this should not come at the expense of environmental protections, legal safeguards or regulatory integrity.

Rather, she said the focus should be on eliminating unnecessary duplication, improving coordination across institutions and building systems that delivered decisions more efficiently without compromising quality.

“Government cannot continue introducing additional administrative layers that make investment slower, more expensive and more uncertain. The objective must always be clear: to reduce regulatory friction, improve efficiency and accelerate the delivery of critical energy projects,” Abrahams stated.