The 69 MW Msenge Emoyeni Wind Farm, located in Bedford in the Eastern Cape, has entered into commercial operation and is wheeling electricity into the national grid helping to green the electricity consumption of Sasol’s operations in the Free State The 16-turbine generation plant has been built by a consortium led by African Clean Energy Developments (ACED) and including African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and Reatile Renewables.
The Danish and South African governments are partnering on a project to map the wind resources of the coal region of Mpumalanga, where access to the grid for new renewables projects is less constrained and where initiatives are under way to explore alternative livelihoods for workers and communities who could be affected by coal mine and power station closures. Known as ‘Wind Atlas of South Africa Phase 4 (WASA4)’, the initiative is being jointly funded by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and is being carried out by researchers from the Danish Technical University, the South African National Energy Development Institute, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the University of Cape Town and the South African Weather Service.
South Africa has an ideal opportunity, and is well positioned, to leverage the potential of the emerging hydrogen economy and establish an integrated value chain. Amid global hydrogen economy conversations, South Africa has been working to create enabling policies and create an enabling environment for a hydrogen economy to thrive, a Creamer Media-hosted Hydrogen Economy webinar participants heard on Wednesday.