The global renewables industry hopes a few strokes of the pen from South Africa’s energy minister can put one of the world’s most promising markets back on the right track after a wasted three years.

When Jeff Radebe in early April signed PPAs for 27 mainly wind and solar projects he ended an impasse that had stopped in its tracks what was among the planet’s most admired renewable energy schemes – the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).