Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Limited has unveiled plans to harness South Africa’s vast wind resources through more than 800 megawatts of wind power projects in the pipeline.
Suzlon will set up an office in the country to be headed by Silas Zimu, the managing director of City Power, a major utility company in South Africa.
“This announcement underscores our belief that South Africa has huge wind potential, along with our intention to play a major role in bringing that to fruition,” said Tulsi Tanti, founder, chairman and managing director of Suzlon.
“We believe that wind power can help South Africa deliver the power the country needs, along with energy security required and create thousands of green jobs,” he continued.
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South Africa boasts of 184 terawatt-hours of wind generating potential. The South African Wind Energy Association estimates that 25 percent, or 100 TWh, of the country’s energy can be sourced from wind energy by 2025.
The association also said that 80 percent of the country’s 100 TWh target could come from 30,000 MW of installed wind power capacity in the country, which is enough to supply at least 75 percent of South Africa’s current domestic energy consumption.
Investments in wind energy generation will not only generate 40,000 new jobs – of which 12,000 will be in rural areas such as Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape – but it will also help the country meet its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020.
“[Thirty thousand] MW of wind energy plants, dispersed across the country, would provide an average daily minimum power output of 7,000 MW, displacing the equivalent coal or nuclear base load,” said Mark Tanton, the wind association’s deputy chairman.
Currently, South Africa’s electricity network could handle 6,000 MW of wind energy without substantial upgrades, which would allow the government to develop this amount by 2015 while determining how to achieve the 30,000 MW target by 2025, the association noted.
Meanwhile, Suzlon is not the only wind company that is eyeing South Africa’s huge wind potential. In June, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S also set up a permanent office in Johannesburg to focus on the future development of wind energy in the country.
