In the control room of one of South Africa’s most ambitious renewable energy projects - Mzansi Energy Consortium’s 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Palabora Mining Company - there is a woman whose name doesn’t appear on engineering drawings or legal opinions, yet her imprint is on every one of them.

Her name is Janke Kruger, and in an industry still dominated by male hierarchies, she has become the quiet force holding an extraordinarily complex 132 MWp solar and 321 MWh battery storage project together.

A Young Woman at the Centre of a Male-Dominated Sector

Navigating a field where young women remain underrepresented has come with challenges. “I’ve walked into rooms where I wasn’t expected,” she says. “I’ve had to prove myself through consistency, accuracy and discipline.”

But the challenges have brought equally powerful moments: senior engineers, executives and external stakeholders turning to her systems, her judgment and her organisation to steer the project forward. “The most empowering part is realising I’m not just part of the project,” she says. “I’m central to its success.”

Gatekeeper of Truth

On a project of this scale, information is as vital as energy itself. Janke is the custodian of it all. Every design iteration, approval, environmental submission, safety file, risk register and contract schedule passes through her hands.

“Being the central point of document flow means I’m effectively the gatekeeper of truth,” she explains. “One wrong version or one missed approval doesn’t just cause confusion - it can delay contractors, derail compliance or expose us to legal and financial risk.” If engineering is the muscle of a mega-project, her work is the nervous system that keeps every part aligned.

A Project of Extraordinary Complexity

Energy developments of this magnitude often conjure images of solar fields and structural modelling. But Janke pushes back against the assumption that engineers alone drive progress.

“These projects collapse without governance, communication and disciplined coordination between environmental teams, EPC contractors, commercial advisors, lenders, regulators and engineers,” she says. “You don’t need to be an engineer to drive a project forward. You need to ensure everyone is aligned.”

What sets this project apart is not only its size, but its interdependency. “One delay cascades through the entire system,” she says. For her, the true scale is measured not in megawatts, but in the volume and velocity of high-stakes information moving between dozens of organisations every day.

When Information Becomes Risk Management

Most people see the solar panels once they’re built. Janke sees the invisible architecture behind them: “the thousands of decisions that made those panels possible - the environmental approvals, safety documents, risks, contracts and technical reviews long before a panel is installed.”

She describes disciplined document control as “one of the most powerful forms of risk mitigation,” preventing rework, miscommunication, regulatory breaches and disputes through structured, traceable information.

A Message to Young Women

Janke never set out to anchor a major energy development. She began in document control and project management, but quickly realised the role gave her unique visibility. “Document control sees every discipline, every milestone. It’s the one role that sees the full picture.”

“There is no single path to shaping the future of energy,” she says. “You don’t need a predefined mould to make an extraordinary impact.” Renewable projects rely as much on clarity, coordination and leadership as on engineering - strengths she believes can drive transformation.