Grant Pattison, who was selling generators as CEO of Massmart until September last year, will now peddle renewable energy solutions - taking advantage of the power crisis in South Africa. Pattison is the new executive chairman of NRG Energy South Africa, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange-listed energy company.He will still report to the Americans, as he did when he headedMassmart, which was "powered" by Walmart.NRG Energy is a Fortune 250 company and the largest independent power producer in the US, with an installed base of more than 52gigawatts of power, with 4.2GW from renewable sources, and annual revenue of about R132-billion.Pattison started in the position in early January and has been building his local team. He would not reveal how much funding has been earmarked for South Africa, as "it is still early stages".NRG will enter the market in phases, focusing on corporate and industrial customers, head offices, shopping centres, factories and hotels - which are severely affected when Eskom implements load-shedding because of power shortages.Pattison said that as head of NRG, he had had discussions with government officials, the Department of Energy, Eskom and other stakeholders in the power sector.He said the government had been supportive because it knew that NRG would bring development capital, which would result in job creation."Eskom does not see the independent power producer as competitors; they see us [NRG] as partners to help alleviate the problem. I think it's possible to all work together," Pattison said.He said Eskom had accepted that it would no longer be a monopoly in the energy-supply business.Pattison said NRG would also be looking north to tap into other markets on the continent...