South Africas first large-scale offering of clean energy was launched yesterday when President Jacob Zuma opened a 500kW solar power plant in Hazelmere.

President Jacob Zuma has outlined South Africa’s ambitious plans to turn the country from one of the “most energy intensive economies of the world” into one that is greener and more climate-friendly.

Speaking at a high-level round-table meeting at the World Economic Forum Green Partnership Dialogue at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre in Durban on Sunday, Zuma said that South Africa’s old growth path, built on high carbon-emitting energy, was no longer sustainable and had come at too high a cost to the environment.

“We will now have to establish new kinds of production and find new ways to produce goods which will reduce both our economy’s use of energy and emissions from energy production. This will require a profound and far-reaching change in our economy, one that will affect us all,” Zuma said.

The president was addressing international investors, captains of industry and top cabinet ministers – including Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Environment Minister Edna Molewa – at one of the giant domes erected specifically for the 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) under way in Durban.

Zuma said South Africa’s new greener growth path formed part of an accord with organised business, labour and civil society under the auspices of the National Economic Development and Labour Council.

“The accord is one of the most comprehensive social partnerships on the green economy anywhere in the world. It covers not only green investments, but also our shared commitment to ensuring that the benefits of those investments are more broadly spread.”

Zuma said that among the highlights of the accord were:

l The government’s commitment to procuring almost 4 000 megawatts of renewable energy for the national grid by 2016 – more than Durban uses in a year and equal to about a 10th of national generation today.

l Eskom and business had committed to continue working on technologies that further reduced emissions from coal-fired plants.

l Solar and wind energy industries have targeted the creation of at least 50 000 green jobs by 2020.

l The government will support the installation of one million solar-powered water heating systems from 2014 to 2015.

l The Industrial Development Corporation will provide up to R25 billion for investments in green economy initiatives over the next five years.

In addition to these, the president said SA businesses had also committed to improving the environmental performance of existing production facilities and, through the National Energy Efficiency Strategy, will reduce energy intensity by at least 10 percent by 2015.

Organised labour will undertake a “lights-off after hours” campaign in buildings and workplaces, and will educate its members on the importance of energy efficiency.

In an effort reduce South Africans’ reliance on private cars, Zuma said the government would invest in a mass transportation system to encourage people to use public transport.

“By 2014, the state-owned commuter rail company, Prasa, will invest R20 billion in new trains, most of which will be manufactured locally... The state-owned transport enterprise, Transnet, will invest about R63 billion in the freight rail system over the next five years.”

Zuma said the new greener growth plan needed the buy-in from everybody, including big business, who needed to invest their technological and managerial expertise.

“Beyond the narrow economic needs of transformation, we must also ensure that everyone gets something out of the process.

“Above all, we must make sure that poor communities do not end up footing the bill, whether through job losses or high prices,” he said.

Later in the day, Zuma visited the community of Hazel-mere, near Verulam, north of Durban, where he launched a flagship solar power plant.

The solar plant is a partnership between Soitec and eThekwini municipality that aims to provide the community with “clean electricity” generated from large solar panels. The clean electricity feeds into the area’s power-supply grid.

It was South Africa’s first large-scale offering of clean energy but not the last, Zuma said.

He said the power plant was the realisation of SA’s commitment made during the COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, when it outlined its plans in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Changing weather patterns are causing extreme drought, wildfires, extreme floods and other unusual occurrences. Even here in KwaZulu-Natal we know that the weather is no longer what it used to be, due to global warming.

“If we do nothing, climate change will leave us with uninhabitable waste lands and socio-economic disasters,” he said.