REUTERS

South African President Jacob Zuma addresses the opening plenary session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban. Picture: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

President Jacob Zuma may announce wind energy projects of some one-to-two gigawatts (billion watts) of power over the next five years when he speaks at the high-level ministerial segment of the COP17 climate summit in Durban next week.

This was the hope expressed by the Global Wind Energy Council during a briefing at the summit on Thursday.

The council’s secretary-general Steve Sawyer told the briefing that private sector investment in clean energy sources like solar AND wind last year was $243 billion, of which $96 billion went to wind power.

China was “very much in the lead” in the wind energy stakes, with 44 733MW of installed capacity or 22% of the world’s total of 197 039MW, followed by the US with 40 180MW at 20.4%.

However, if all the wind power installations in the EU were combined, this would put them into second spot. Individually, Germany, Spain, India, Italy, France, UK, Canada and Denmark make up the rest of the top 10, who together account for 86.4% of the world total.

China was also the runaway winner of new installed capacity last year, with 18 928MW or just under 50% of the global total.

The US was a distant second with 5 115MW or 13.4%, followed by India, Spain, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Canada and Sweden. The rest of the world combined last year installed 4 785MW, or 12.5%.

Sawyer said 2010 had been a “breakthrough year for us” because there had been more investment in and installation of wind power outside the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) than within this group of developed nations.

“And that is set to increase dramatically,” he added.

The growth of wind power in Brazil had been “phenomenal” over the last few years, while Mexico was not far behind and there was “surprising” growth in Uruguay.

Egypt is the leader in Africa with some 550MW of wind energy capacity, of which 120MW was added last year. Morocco is a distant second, followed by Tunisia.

A 300MW plant was planned for a site near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, and both Tanzania and Ethiopia had plans for “three digit” wind turbine plants, Sawyer said,

The council was waiting for an announcement of wind energy tenders in South Africa – “For 15 years we’ve been banging away at the door” – and they were hoping for a major announcement by Zuma next week.

This could be about the winners of the bidding process for subsidised renewable energy projects – not only wind - under the first phase of the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for power generation up to 2030. There are 53 bids by independent power producers (IPPs) representing a potential capacity of some 2 130MW valued at about R64-billion waiting adjudication by the government.

According to the wind council’s annual report, just under 10 00MW of wind power was installed across Europe last year, of which most was within the EU.

According to a new report by the European Wind Energy Association, wind power alone will contribute 31% to the emissions reduction required by the EU to meet its current commitment of 20% under the climate change convention (UNFCCC).

And even if the EU moved to reduce its emissions by 30% below 1990 levels, wind energy could still provide the equivalent of 20% of that reduction.

“While the (COP17) negotiations proceed at a snail’s pace, wind power is racing ahead,” Sawyer said.

“Wind and other renewable technologies are playing a larger role than anyone could have anticipated a few years ago.

“But we need ambitious emission reduction targets in order to reach our full potential, and spur the other measures necessary to close the emissions gap.”

John.yeld@inl.co.za