The importance of renewable energy as a catalyst for socio-economic transformation while South Africa transitions to a low-carbon future was highlighted at Windaba Connect, the precursor to Windaba 2024 in Cape Town.
Vincent Kok, senior technical adviser to the South African Wind Energy Association, said that social impact is not an afterthought but a building principle in wind-energy projects. This ranges from community inclusivity in project conceptualisation to active participation in end stage projects.
Elsebeth Søndergaard Krone, Danish ambassador to South Africa, said Denmark used to be one of the most coal-intensive energy countries in Europe back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Following oil price shocks, the country started investing in wind energy in the 1980s and today is seen as a world leader in the transition to renewable energy, with wind power supplying more than 50% of Denmark’s electricity supply.
“You might think that our reliance on wind energy renders supply unstable, but we suffer less than 20 minutes of load-shedding per year, and that usually happens because of breakages,” Krone said.
The shift to renewable energy has resulted in Denmark being responsible for less than 0,1% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Krone said that Denmark had partnered with 24 key countries, including South Africa, that collectively emitted 70% of the world carbon dioxide to accelerate global reduction in emissions.
“The Danish Energy Agency shares best practice from decades of green transition in Denmark through government-to-government co-operation with these countries,” she said.
Besides technology transfer and capacity building, Denmark is supporting South Africa’s transition in various ways. The country supports the development of the Wind Atlas of South Africa aimed at identifying areas suited for wind farm development; it enhances wind energy investments and development; and contributes to policymaking and planning for renewable energy.
Denmark is also actively involved in training at primary and secondary school level to equip the market with skilled labour and promotes high-quality renewable energy research through various initiatives.
Denmark, along with the Netherlands, Germany, France, the US and the UK, also pledged R160 billion towards the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a finance deal aimed at helping South Africa transition away from coal-based energy.
Dzunani Makgopa, head of finance and co-operate services at the Independent Power Producers Office (IPPO), said the IPPO had facilitated the procurement of over 7 335MW of energy capacity from 95 independent power producers and attracted over R200 billion in private sector investment from projects that reached financial close since the IPPO was launched by the Department of Energy in 2010.
Energy generated through the programme to date amounts to 118 972GWh.
Makgopa, however, emphasised that the programme not only attracted much-needed new investments, skills, technologies and competition, but also stimulated social development and job creation.
“Economic development has been integrated as central pillars of the programme and evolved with each bidding window, taking cognisance of the broader legislative and policy environment. It aligns to the amended B-BBEE codes of good practice and exceeds the targets of the generic B-BBEE scorecard,” she said.
So far, thousands of jobs had been created, R92,3 billion had been spent on B-BBEE, R75 billion had been spent on local content, amounting to 49% of the total project value, and R3,6 billion had been contributed towards socio-economic and enterprise development.
Makgopa added that black South Africans owned more than 38% of shares in the project, with local communities accounting for 9% of the shares.
