Energy Transition Video Storytelling for South African Business
Last Updated: 1 month ago by Astral Studios Staff
Energy transition storytelling through video is changing how South African businesses communicate one of the biggest shifts in our economy. This article shows you how to use video to get your team, investors, and communities on board with your renewable energy plans.
I remember chatting with a mining exec in Joburg last year. His company had just signed a massive wind power deal. Smart move, right? Problem was, half his workforce thought they’d be out of jobs within months. The union was pushing back hard. Classic communication breakdown.
Here’s what they did. They filmed real workers who’d gone through reskilling programs. Nothing fancy. Just honest conversations about what changing to renewable energy actually meant for them. Three months later, the same union was sharing these videos in their WhatsApp groups.
That’s the power of getting this right.
Why Video Matters More Than Ever
South Africa’s energy story is moving fast. Standard Bank has participated in over 12,000MW of closed deals across the continent as of 2025. Your competitors are already moving. If you’re still sending PDFs about your sustainability plans, you’re losing the conversation.
Video does three things that emails and reports can’t:
People actually watch them. Your staff will sit through a three-minute video. They won’t read your ten-page transition plan.
Complex stuff becomes clear. Try explaining how a hybrid wind-solar-battery system works in a memo. Good luck. Show it in animation? Everyone gets it.
Emotion connects better. The Just Energy Transition is about securing affordable, sustainable power while protecting jobs and unlocking economic opportunity. That’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet. That’s people’s lives. Video captures that.
The South African Energy Context Right Now
Seriti Green has financed three phases totaling 465 megawatts in just two years, with the first phase secured in 2024 and the second completed in August 2025. Mpumalanga—the coal heartland—is getting massive wind farms. That tells you everything about where we’re headed.
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa called Seriti’s project “a perfect illustration of what can be achieved”. When the government is backing these moves publicly, smart businesses are already planning their communication strategies.
Load shedding isn’t dominating the headlines like it used to. But that doesn’t mean your energy story is simpler. It’s actually gotten more complicated. The US withdrew from South Africa’s Just Energy Transition partnership, reducing total pledged funding from $13.8bn to $12.8bn. Yet the European Union announced a Global Gateway Investment Package worth €4.7bn, largely focused on South Africa’s clean energy transition.
Your stakeholders are watching all of this. They’re asking questions. Video helps you answer them consistently.
Types of Video That Actually Work
Animated Explainers for Complex Topics
Animation makes the complicated stuff simple. How does your company plan to source renewable energy? What’s a power purchase agreement? Where does the electricity actually go?
A two-minute animated video can show your entire energy roadmap. Colour-coded flows. Simple icons. No jargon.
One insurance company in Sandton did this brilliantly. They used animation to show their office buildings switching to solar, their data centres going carbon neutral, and their investment portfolio moving away from coal. Staff understood the timeline. Investors saw the commitment. All in under 180 seconds.
Live Action Employee Stories
Nothing beats real people talking about real experiences. On-site employment at Seriti’s wind project reached 1,200 and is expected to grow to 2,000 as construction continues. Those workers have stories worth telling.
Film your engineers who are installing solar panels. Interview the procurement manager learning to source renewable equipment. Show the accountant calculating carbon savings.
Keep it authentic. Nobody trusts overly polished corporate speak anymore. Your people don’t need to be actors. They need to be honest.
Leadership Messages That Don’t Sound Corporate
Your CEO needs to be on camera explaining why this matters. Not reading from a teleprompter. Actually talking to people.
Best format? Sitting somewhere in your building. Natural light. One camera. Four minutes max. Have them answer the questions employees actually ask in the hallways:
- How much will this cost?
- Is my job safe?
- What happens if we don’t do this?
- When do we start?
Straight answers build trust. Corporate waffle destroys it.
Training Videos for Practical Skills
Your team needs to learn new things. Safety protocols for battery storage. How to read renewable energy data. What to tell clients about your green commitments.
Make short training modules. Five to seven minutes each. One topic per video. Include quizzes at the end.
About a third of the electricity generated from Ummbila Emoyeni will power Seriti Resources’ mining operations, helping to decarbonise one of the country’s most energy-intensive industries. That kind of change needs people who know what they’re doing. Training videos get them there faster.
Building Your Video Strategy Step by Step
Start With Your Audiences
Who actually needs to hear from you? List them all:
- Your employees (different departments need different messages)
- Your board and investors
- Your suppliers
- Local communities near your operations
- Government regulators
- Industry peers
Each group cares about different things. Your CFO wants ROI figures. Your community liaison needs social impact stories. One video won’t work for everyone.
Map Out Your Key Messages
Write down the five things every stakeholder needs to understand:
- Why you’re making this transition
- What it means for them specifically
- The timeline and milestones
- How you’re managing risks
- Where they can learn more
Every video should connect back to these points. Consistency matters more than creativity here.
Choose Your Formats
Match your content to your audience and budget:
| Format | Best For | Cost | Production Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animated explainer | Technical concepts, company-wide updates | Medium | 4-6 weeks |
| Employee testimonial | Building trust, showing real impact | Low | 1-2 weeks |
| Leadership message | Strategic announcements, crisis communication | Low | 3-5 days |
| Training module | Skills development, compliance | Medium | 2-4 weeks |
| Documentary-style | Investor relations, community engagement | High | 6-12 weeks |
Start with two or three formats. You can expand later.
Plan Your Production
Don’t try to make everything at once. Build a content calendar:
Month 1: Leadership announcement video explaining the transition
Month 2: Animated explainer on renewable energy basics
Month 3: First employee testimonial series
Month 4: Training videos for department heads
Consistency beats perfection. Better to publish regular content that’s good enough than wait six months for something perfect.
Making Content That Doesn’t Bore People
Keep videos short. Three to five minutes is the sweet spot. Anything longer better be incredibly interesting.
Use real language. Ditch the corporate buzzwords. Say “wind turbines” not “renewable energy generation assets”. Say “saving money” not “optimising operational expenditure”.
Show don’t tell. If you’re talking about your new solar panels, show them being installed. If you’re explaining job creation, show workers on site.
Add captions. Captions boost accessibility for audiences who are hearing-impaired or who don’t share the same native language. South Africa has eleven official languages. Captions help everyone.
End with clear next steps. After watching your video, what should people do? Visit a website? Attend a workshop? Sign up for updates? Tell them specifically.
Distribution Strategy That Actually Reaches People
Making great videos means nothing if nobody watches them.
Internal Channels
Email newsletters work but don’t rely on them alone. People delete emails. Put videos:
- On your intranet homepage
- In team meetings (play them at the start)
- On screens in common areas
- In WhatsApp groups (yes, really)
One mining company sent their energy transition videos via WhatsApp to all shift supervisors. Those supervisors showed them during safety briefings. Reach was nearly 100%.
External Channels
LinkedIn for B2B audiences. Your company page plus encouraging employees to share.
YouTube with proper SEO. Someone will Google “energy transition South Africa” someday. Make sure they find your content.
Your website obviously. But don’t bury it. Put video content front and centre on your homepage.
Industry events. Speaking at conferences? Show your videos as part of presentations. Way more memorable than slides.
Measuring What Matters
Track the basics:
- View counts (who’s watching)
- Completion rates (who’s watching all the way through)
- Engagement (comments, shares, questions)
- Action taken (website visits, sign-ups, inquiries)
But also measure the stuff that actually impacts your business:
- Employee sentiment surveys before and after video campaigns
- Investor questions reduced (if your videos explain things well, you answer fewer emails)
- Community relations improvements
- Recruitment applications from candidates who mention seeing your videos
One transformation project achieved an impressive NPS of 85% in the domain of communication. That’s what good video storytelling can deliver.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Making everything about you. Your audience doesn’t care about your brand. They care about what this means for them. Frame everything from their perspective.
Waiting for perfect. Your first videos won’t be amazing. That’s fine. You’ll get better. Don’t let perfectionism stop you from starting.
Forgetting about mobile. Most people watch on their phones. Test everything on a small screen before publishing.
Ignoring negative feedback. If people say your videos are too long or too technical, they’re right. Fix it for the next one.
Only making videos when there’s big news. Consistency matters. Regular updates build trust even when nothing major is happening.
The Business Case for Video Investment
Projects like the Haru BESS could save Eskom $661 million annually to meet peak demand. Energy transition is expensive. Good communication that gets stakeholder buy-in? That’s cheap compared to delays, resistance, and reputation damage.
Video production costs have dropped massively. You can make decent training videos with a smartphone and free editing software. Professional production for important announcements might cost R50,000 to R150,000. Compare that to the cost of a delayed project or a community protest.
One government department told me they spent R2 million on a comprehensive video communication strategy for their renewable energy rollout. Sounds like a lot until you learn it reached 40,000 stakeholders and reduced their community consultation time by six months. The ROI was obvious.
What’s Coming Next
AI tools are making video production faster and cheaper. Automated editing, voice-over generation, and translation services mean you can create multilingual content at a fraction of traditional costs.
Virtual reality tours of renewable facilities are getting more common. Imagine showing investors around your wind farm without them leaving Johannesburg.
Interactive videos where viewers choose their own path are becoming easier to produce. An employee could select their department and see information relevant only to them.
But technology is just a tool. The fundamentals don’t change. Tell honest stories. Show real people. Make complex things simple. Answer the questions people actually have.
Real Talk About Implementation
You’re probably thinking this sounds like a lot of work. You’re right. It is.
But here’s the thing about energy transition—it’s happening whether you communicate well or not. A record-breaking 585 GW of new renewable capacity was added globally in 2024. South Africa is part of that wave.
Your choice isn’t whether to transition. Your choice is whether to bring people along with you or force them to catch up later.
Good video storytelling is how you bring them along.
Start small. Make one video this quarter. See what happens. Learn what works. Do more of that.
The energy companies getting this right aren’t doing anything magical. They’re just telling their stories clearly, consistently, and honestly. You can do the same.
Ready to Tell Your Energy Story?
Your energy transition is unique. Your stakeholders have specific concerns. Your timeline has its own pressures.
Video storytelling gives you the tools to address all of that. But you need partners who understand both the technical side of production and the strategic side of communication.
Get Your Message Moving
Contact us at Astral Studios. We specialise in corporate video production for businesses and government agencies navigating complex transitions. We’ll help you figure out what to say, how to say it, and who needs to hear it.
Let’s make videos that actually move your stakeholders—and your energy transition—forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does energy transition video production cost?
Costs vary widely based on what you need. Simple employee testimonial videos shot on-site might run R15,000 to R30,000. Professional animated explainers typically cost R50,000 to R150,000. Full documentary-style productions can reach R300,000 or more. Most companies start with smaller projects and scale up as they see results.
How long should our energy transition videos be?
Keep most videos between three and five minutes. Training modules can go up to seven minutes if the content requires it. Leadership messages work best at four minutes or less. Anything longer needs to be really interesting or you’ll lose viewers halfway through.
Do we need professional equipment or can we film in-house?
You can start with smartphones for simple content. Modern phones shoot excellent video. What matters more is good lighting, clear audio, and authentic storytelling. Save professional production budgets for high-stakes content like investor presentations or major announcements.
How do we measure if our videos are working?
Track completion rates first. If people watch all the way through, your content is working. Also measure actions taken after viewing—website visits, training sign-ups, questions asked. Employee sentiment surveys before and after video campaigns show real impact better than view counts alone.
Should we use animation or live action?
Use animation for technical concepts, processes, and data visualization. Choose live action for employee stories, leadership messages, and building trust through authentic voices. Many successful campaigns mix both formats depending on the message.
How often should we release new video content?
Consistency beats frequency. Monthly videos work better than publishing five videos one month and nothing for six months. Start with quarterly releases if resources are tight. You can always increase frequency once you’ve got a rhythm going.
What languages should our videos include?
Add English subtitles as a baseline. Consider isiZulu, Afrikaans, and other languages based on your workforce and community demographics. Captions are cheaper than full translations and help everyone understand your content better.
Can we repurpose one video for different audiences?
Not really. Your investors care about different things than your employees. Your community stakeholders have different concerns than your suppliers. Make targeted content for each group. You can reuse footage but change the narration and focus.
How do we handle negative feedback about our energy transition?
Address it head-on in your videos. If workers worry about job losses, show reskilling programs. If communities question your commitment, share measurable progress. Ignoring concerns makes them grow. Honest responses build credibility.
What if our energy transition plans change?
Update your communication quickly. Short videos are easy to produce fast. If timelines shift or strategies change, tell people immediately through video. Regular updates show you’re being transparent even when things don’t go perfectly.
