As 2025 gathers pace and we witness major shifts in the global order, the world economy and long-established supply chains, we also see significant advances in industrial technologies and energy systems.

In this April issue of Electricity + Control we look at various dimensions of the continuing evolution of Industry 4,0 and IIoT: the pressures on industry to move forward with digital transformation, the rise and rise of data volumes, the value of AI in industry, and its impact on energy demand.

Satyajit Dwivedi of SAS Analytics highlights how AI can transform energy and water utilities to unlock new levels of efficiency and transition to a smarter connected future. Acknowledging the challenges of adopting AI, he emphasises the importance of a structured approach, coordinated across departments, to establish a unified platform.

Although the country pulled through the sudden reversal to Stage 6 load shedding in the last week of February relatively quickly, questions around the stability of the grid and South Africa’s electricity generation capacity linger.  These were given further credence with the need for load shedding again on the first weekend of March. The initial trip (in February) took down five generating units at Majuba Power Station – 3 600 MW – alongside unplanned capacity losses at four units at Camden and one at Medupi.

As this new year opens, South Africa is gearing up to host the G20, which will see working group meetings and other discussions taking place throughout the year – with a focus on what the country has determined as the key themes: solidarity, equality and sustainable development. President Cyril Ramaphosa has pointed out that the G20, a leading forum for international economic cooperation, is being hosted on the African continent for the first time, marking a significant moment for South Africa, the African continent and the world.

The increasing proportion of renewable energies in electricity supply systems, globally, influences the way transmission grids operate, creating new technical requirements in measurement, monitoring and control systems and driving the move to smart grids to manage decentralised, diverse and variable energy resources. This context spotlights all the features in focus in this December 2024 edition of Electricity + Control: Industry 4.0 + IIoT, Energy management + the industrial environment, Measurement + instrumentation and Transformers, substations + cables.

In this issue of Electricity + Control we feature Control systems + automation; Drives, motors + switchgear; Sensors + switches; and Plant maintenance, test + measurement.

As the world seeks new pathways to sustainability, food security tends to be buried beneath growing revelations of extreme weather patterns emerging around the world and the clamour for cleaner energy and stable water supply. Of course, they all work together in earth’s natural ecosystem – which our primarily industrial climate stressors have pushed out of balance.