Combining Zutari’s deep African energy engineering expertise with PLEXOS®’s world-class modelling technology to establish the definitive decision-intelligence benchmark for South Africa’s Emerging Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM).
6 October 2026
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA — To address a critical market gap, leading multinational infrastructure engineering and advisory firm Zutari has partnered with Energy Exemplar, the creators of PLEXOS®, to launch an integrated market intelligence and scenario-planning solution tailored specifically for SAWEM. By combining Zutari’s extensive on-the-ground South African energy data, regulatory context, and engineering advisory expertise with the physics-based PLEXOS® fundamental modelling engine, the collaboration delivers a trustworthy, defensible market view from day one.
As South Africa transitions from its historic single-buyer electricity model toward a competitive wholesale market structure under SAWEM, energy market participants face an unprecedented analytical challenge. With no historical price data, established benchmarks, or local wholesale trading models to rely on, market participants are confronting significant commercial and operational uncertainty.
The transition to SAWEM, encompassing day-ahead, intraday, and balancing mechanisms, requires independent power producers (IPPs), energy traders, large power users, and emerging market participants to evaluate price formation, dispatch behaviour, and portfolio risk under rapidly evolving market conditions. Traditional forecasting tools, reliant on past market trends, are insufficient for a system undergoing fundamental structural reform.
Through this partnership, market participants gain introductory access to PLEXOS® Pulse, an accessible, out-of-the-box cloud-based market intelligence service that provides ready-to-use, fundamentals-based forecasts and scenario modelling relative to South Africa’s electricity market, requiring no internal modelling teams or complex software setup. It helps teams understand market movement, explains market drivers, and share market-ready intelligence across trading, planning, and commercial workflows.
“As South Africa enters a new era of competitive power trading, market participants cannot afford to rely on guesswork or static historical models,” says Janice Foster, Managing Director: Energy at Zutari. “By pairing Zutari’s deep understanding of local grid dynamics and regulatory frameworks with PLEXOS®’s globally proven modelling engine, we are providing the market with a transparent, evidence-based reference point. Our goal is to empower generators, traders, and large energy users to make confident, defensible investment and operational decisions as SAWEM unfolds.”
"PLEXOS® is trusted by energy leaders across the globe," says David Robertson, SVP, EMEA at Energy Exemplar. "When markets change, PLEXOS® helps organisations understand what's coming and why. Pairing its modelling capabilities with Zutari's on-the-ground experience and analysis means SAWEM participants get a solution that's both globally proven and genuinely local."
The joint offering brings immediate time-to-value across multiple organisational roles and business models:
Energy Traders & IPPs: Accelerate the transition from market shifts to executable trading strategies using updated forecasts and physics-grounded dispatch modelling.
Portfolio & Risk Managers: Bring explainable, auditable market scenarios to risk committees, investors, and regulatory bodies.
Large Energy Users: Evaluate long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), procurement options, and cost exposure before market shifts impact financial budgets.
Analysts & Planners: Utilise plain-language AI Querying capabilities to extract insights, generate charts, and build executive dashboards in minutes.
By establishing a comprehensive analytics reference for SAWEM, Zutari and PLEXOS® are building the foundation for a transparent, efficient, and resilient South African energy ecosystem.
ENDS
Zutari is a multinational buildings, infrastructure engineering and advisory firm with a proud legacy of over 90 years across Africa and the Middle East. We partner with clients throughout the infrastructure lifecycle, delivering innovative, digitally enabled solutions from schools to stadiums, dams to bridges.
Our multidisciplinary expertise enables us to co-create infrastructure that is technically excellent, socially meaningful, and environmentally responsible, maximising value through advanced engineering principles and a commitment to sustainability.
Purpose-led work. From renewable energy to resilient infrastructure, our projects solve real-world challenges. Every day is an opportunity to design with purpose and innovate with intent.
People-first culture. We bring together diverse thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers; all driven by a shared commitment to impact. Here, your voice is heard, your growth is supported, and your well-being matters.
Connected by design. We connect differently; across disciplines, geographies, and perspectives, to unlock better outcomes. Our collaborative model breaks silos, integrates global expertise, and brings creativity and digital innovation into every stage of the project lifecycle. It’s how we deliver real impact, together.
We are Zutari. We are engineering impact.
Zutari Contact
Cambridge Mokanyane
Chief Marketing Officer
Zutari
Email: Cambridge.Mokanyane@zutari.com
Tel: (012) 427 2000
Web: https://www.zutari.com
In an era where the world is rapidly advancing towards a cleaner future through decarbonisation, Energy Exemplar’s mission lies in “Empowering Transformative Energy Decisions”. Founded in 1999 in Adelaide, Australia, our award-winning software portfolio — encompassing the modelling and simulation platform PLEXOS®, Aurora, and Adapt2 — is trusted by innovative organisations across the globe. Energy Exemplar is now extending that trust with AI capabilities that help decision makers across the energy industry act faster and with greater confidence. Through our technology and people, we strive to enable stakeholders from across the entire energy value chain to revolutionise the energy ecosystem and collaboratively plan and execute for a sustainable energy future with unprecedented clarity, speed, and innovation. For more information, visit www.energyexemplar.com.
Energy Exemplar
Victoria Taylor
Partner Marketing
Energy Exemplar
Email: Victoria.taylor@energyexemplar.com
Tel: (1) (816) 210-9349
Website: www.energyexemplar.com