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Sawea highlights industry’s community upliftment contribution ahead of Global Wind Day

12th June 2014

By: Creamer Media Reporter

  

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South Africa has much to celebrate on Global Wind Day, June 15, the South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) said on Thursday.

“… there is no better time to highlight our ongoing efforts towards bettering communities. Not only has [South Africa] embraced an impressive procurement system, which has ensured highly competitive energy prices, but the contribution these developments will make to community development and socioeconomic improvements is rivalled by none,” said Sawea chairperson Dipolelo Elford.

She pointed out that by 'designing-in' to the procurement process mandatory financial contributions to local communities, government had ensured that wind farms would not only ease the strain on South Africa’s electricity supply but make real, tangible improvements to the future of nearby communities.

“Collectively, wind farms presently built or in the pipeline [in South Africa] will invest over R5-billion of their revenue into socioeconomic and enterprise development over the next 20 years, while shareholding of between 5% and 40% in the project companies is [also] allocated [to an entity representing local residents within a 50 km radius]. This substantial investment is accompanied by the creation of employment opportunities for workers across the skills spectrum,” said Sawea in a statement on Thursday.

The association considered delivery on its socioeconomic compact with government as core to its mandate, with the annual South African wind conference, WINDABA 2014, taking place in Cape Town from November 3 to 5, themed Power2 the People – improving lives through wind energy, focusing on economic development.

“The wind industry is committed to getting the delivery of community benefits right – work undertaken by researchers has investigated the commitments to communities made by wind farm developers and their implementation so far,” added Sawea.

Emerging findings were shared with the association’s members during the inaugural Communities for Wind Workshop, in Sandton, Johannesburg, at the Industrial Development Corporation on May 22. This would be the first of many ongoing discussions on how to ensure communities got the most out of the funds available to them.

Further, Sawea noted that the financial benefits for communities would increase, as a further allocation for wind farms through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) had been granted by the Department of Energy, and wind energy development was expected to continue to rise steeply until 2030 and beyond.

Thanks to government’s REIPPPP, which had seen private investors competitively bidding to build wind farms, South Africa’s industry was booming, said Sawea.

In 2011, there were just eight wind turbines in South Africa. Now, there are five wind farms in full operation, 15 more under construction and a further seven about to reach financial close.  Together, these wind farms will provide 1 983 MW of wind power to the national electricity grid, while, by year end, about 400 wind turbines will grace the country’s rural areas.

“Due to the competitive nature of the REIPPPP bidding rounds, the price of wind energy has decreased by 42%. In the last REIPPPP round [3] it averaged 74c/kWh – 30% cheaper than the predicted cost of new coal power at Medupi power station [in Limpopo],” stated Sawea.

Sawea will celebrate Global Wind Day with the release of a short documentary covering some of the key elements of community development and the benefits associated with wind energy in South Africa.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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