Lisa Isaacs
Nicolette Dirk
LOCAL industries are experiencing the benefits of using renewable energy to save money and to meet the industry boom, and investments are also being made in skills development.
Delegates at the SA International Renewable Energy Conference yesterday visited different facilities that used renewable energy.
The family-owned Vrede en Lust wine farm along the Franschhoek Wine Route in Simondium has saved 40 percent in electricity usage since its implementation in 2012.
The total cost of the wine farm’s roof and ground-based solar-powered structures was R4.4 million and it produces 220KW of energy.
Excess electricity goes into the national grid.
Vrede en Lust co-owner Etienne Buys said electricity was their biggest expense.
“In 2011 our electricity bill was R150 000 a month. We looked at how we could cut our cost without affecting our wine’s quality,” said Buys. They then looked at alternatives.
“From our point of view the most practical was solar. Solar-powered energy is actually ideal because our production cycle is in summer and in the winter our farms are in ‘rest’,” said Buys.
Hydro-energy was not considered because there was not enough water in the province.
The farm’s carbon saving on the project so far has been 360 tons a year.
Renewable energy firms have also identified the need for skills development in the sector and have begun initiatives to create a specialised qualification for the field.
The SA Renewable Energy Technology Centre (SARETEC) in Bellville is South Africa’s first national renewable energy technology centre. It offers specialised industry related training along with short courses and will be expanding into formal courses next year.
The centre has received funding from the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Operations manager Sven Pietrangeli said the industry would see a boom in the next few years and required a skilled workforce. “SARETEC is scoped to do skills development, especially technician levels… for the renewable energy industry. We essentially deal with wind turbine service technician training, solar photovoltaics technician training,” Pietrangeli said.
This would include training for installations and maintenance of the equipment, he said, adding that SARETEC wanted to formalise longer courses as it waited for the South African Qualifications Authority’s approval.
“Because these qualifications don’t exist, we’ve had to be part of writing them,” he added.
Pietrangeli said SARETEC would run the country’s first wind turbine service technician pilot programme in February.
Ten South Africans would also be trained using this curriculum, which is of an international standard.