Cape Town – Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said on Tuesday that South Africa’s solar energy programme (SEP) would deliver a quarter of the country’s renewable energy by 2030 and should be recognised as a game changer that would create opportunities for communities.
Davies, speaking during a visit to the Northern Cape community of De Aar, said: “We need to appreciate the size and extent of the SEP that we have in South Africa. By far, South Africa has the biggest renewable energy programme in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. The SEP should be acknowledged as a game changer in the energy space, and the one that will create opportunities for the communities.”
The Northern Cape had emerged as an important area for solar energy, said Davis.
He said his department would be working with the province on a declaration of a Special Economic Zone that would focus on the roll-out of facilities to generate solar energy power stations.
“We are looking to create industries that can produce inputs into solar power facilities which can be located in the Northern Cape and create opportunities for manufacturers,” Davies said.
Manager for local economic development at the Pixley ka Seme district municipality, Sindisile Madyo, said much of the opportunity in development in the renewable energy, biomass for biofuels and biotechnology industries remained untapped.
Madyo added that although the biomass industry had created 10 000 jobs since 2010, many more could be created.
African News Agency