Renewable energy going mainstream

Willy Majola, senior general manager: engineering at Eskom

Majola, speaking on behalf of Matshela Koko, group executive generation at Eskom, said: “Since August last year, we have not done any load shedding. To achieve this remarkable performance, we have stepped up maintenance and we are bringing more generation capacity online. On the transmission side, Eskom is rolling out 765kV lines for more efficient bulk distribution, and has installed over 6,000km of transmission lines in the past seven years. On the distribution side, we have electrified over 4.6-million households since 1991.”

Learning from international mistakes

Industry experts also noted that renewable energy is going mainstream, offering significant potential to provide affordable power to under-served rural areas across the continent. In addition, high-level conferences such as Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa were increasingly giving African power sector players an opportunity to learn from international mistakes and leapfrog into next generation power generation and distribution, they said.

Noting that other African countries learn from South Africa’s example, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa conference chair Dr Willie de Beer said: “South Africa is reforming the industry by default. By introducing IPPs, enabling self-built transmission grids and supporting the solar revolution, our industry is adapting to change and moving away from the hW/H utility model."

“Solar is reforming the industry, so utilities have to adapt to accommodate this,” de Beer noted.

Earlier, Sindiswa Mzamo, chief operating officer of the Edison Power Group and Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa participant noted that Africa had reached a tipping point for the adoption of solar power. “Across Africa, solar is the solution for powering rural communities, because it is cost effective and does not need to be connected to a grid to power an isolated geographic area. The wave of solar adoptions might be one of the most important initiatives in African power right now,” she said.

Focus strongly on solar technologies

Glenn Ensor, MD of conference organisers PennWell, told stakeholders that due to the growing importance of solar power in Africa, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa would focus strongly on solar technologies and strategies this year. He also announced that a delegation of Turkish solar product manufacturers would travel to South Africa to participate in the expo, showcasing advanced solar technologies suited to African markets.

The 2016 edition of Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa will highlight a number of other key themes, including the maintenance and management of ageing assets, the nuclear power question, the gamut of renewable energies, and advanced technologies and smart grids. The conference has also expanded its reach to include energy heavy industries such as mining, plastics and manufacturing.

Under the theme ‘Creating power for sustainable growth’, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa will take place from 19–21 July at the Sandton Convention Centre, with a strong focus on renewable energy, sustainable power generation and distribution, pan-African power provision and smarter management and grids.

Because power challenges cannot be seen in regional isolation, PennWell says, greater pan-African participation has been encouraged by engaging more pan-African power stakeholders in the event advisory boards by inviting a delegation party of over 50 sub-Saharan African VIPs from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, among others to attend as guests and participate in scheduled B2B matchmaking sessions with potential business partners and suppliers.

For more information and to view the agenda, go to www.powergenafrica.com.