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Private sector is hot for renewable energy
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Pangea on 10/12/2009 22:00:00
 
A target of 15 percent renewable energy by 2020 was endorsed on Friday by
representatives of civil society and
the private sector.
The representatives appear to be coalescing as an organised industry lobby after
a national renewable energy conference hosted by environmental group WWF South
Africa.
This comes as a report froma University of Cape Town institute for energy
studies, commissioned by WWF, found that
a renewable energy target of 15 percent by 2020 was feasible.
The study selected wind and solar thermal as South Africa’s renewable energies
of choice, noting that the target would require a “huge capital investment
programme” to build 116 solar thermal plants of 100 megawatts each, or 213
wind farms of 100MW each, operating at 30 percent availability or a combination
of both.
South Africa has one privately owned 5.2MW wind farm in Darling, Western Cape.
Others are on the drawing board, including a two-phase 200MW Eskom facility on
the west coast, which together represent a fraction of the requirements of a 15
percent target.
Solar thermal technology on a commercial scale is still in its infancy. Eskom
hopes to establish a demonstration
plant for a 100MW solar tower in Uppington, but has not raised the finance.
Wikus van Niekerk, the director of the centre for renewable and sustainable
energy studies at Stellenbosch University, told the conference that South Africa
had about 500 000MW of solar thermal energy available – more than 10 times
current demand.
A resolution from the conference called on the state to provide scientific,
industrial, tax, tariff and trade support for investment in renewable energy.