Two executives of Germany-headquartered wind farm developers are heading to South Africa to seek development opportunities in the nation’s growing renewable-energy industry.

PNE Wind chairperson Martin Billhardt and WKN and PNE supervisory board chairperson Dieter Kuprian planned a provisional review of current projects and market conditions in Johannesburg and Cape Town from December 16 to 18.

The leaders planned to return during the course of next year to undertake a “more intense” visit, engaging South African business leaders and other industry stakeholders.

Kuprian commented that the pair hoped to meet with decision-makers to “get a better understanding” of their projected power-supply needs to enable the European companies to develop their future investment strategy.

“Through our developments in Europe, we have a lot of experience in providing community benefit programmes, including job creation and training opportunities. I want to use this visit to investigate how that experience can be replicated and maximised in South Africa,” he noted.

Billhardt added: “South Africa represents a very important market for us, especially in the Eastern Cape province. The Kouga area has a lot of agricultural interests and there are also many commercial businesses as well as good infrastructure. Renewable-energy projects, such as ours, in this area, will not only contribute in securing the electricity supply but can also provide a tremendous boost to the local economy.”

This emerged after PNE, earlier this year, bought a controlling stake in WKN, which had previously entered into a joint venture agreement with local group Windcurrent to develop and construct a number of renewable-energy projects in South Africa.

These included the Ubuntu wind farm, near Jeffreys Bay, in the Eastern Cape, which comprised the construction of up to 50 wind turbines, producing 100 MW of electricity on farmland.

WKN Windcurrent SA also developed the Banna Ba Pifhu wind farm alongside a photovoltaic solar power facility, near Humansdorp, in the Eastern Cape.

Billhardt and Kuprian were expected to tour the Banna Ba Pifhu project and the proposed Ubuntu site.

“We are very impressed by the South African government’s ambitious programme to grant permission for up to 1 000 MW of renewable-energy projects yearly as part of [its] Integrated Resource Plan,” Kuprian said.

“[The South African government] understands that [it] must find alternative sources to coal and nuclear power and wind energy is one of the key alternatives. We are very confident with the way the [Renewable Energy] Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme has been run and proud to have participated in the current round.”

During their visit, the two executives would also meet with officials from the German consul general’s office in Cape Town.