In the short-term, South Africa could provide between 10% and 20% of it’s national power requirement, solely from wind power, and if certain constraints were lifted, and longer-term targets set, even more renewable energy could be produced, and provide energy security for the country.

“For South Africa to reach energy independence, it must have longer-term targets. It would be a great leap forward for the country if it took on longer term targets,” Mainstream Renewable Power CEO Eddie O’Connor told Engineering News Online.

He explained that companies would not commit to foreign direct investment in renewable energy manufacture if they only saw a short-term future in South Africa. “If companies see that the government means business, they will invest,” he added.

He further estimated that for every megawatt of power generated from wind energy, about three jobs could be created in South Africa. In Germany about 70 000 people were employed in the wind and solar energy industries, and much of the huge productive capacity of the country has been focused towards the renewable energy sector. This, said O’Connor, was owing to the government’s ambitious renewable energy policy.

The South African government, and Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has said that South Africa seeks to commission 400 MW of wind power by independent power producers within the next three years. The country has a target of installing 10 000 GWh of renewable energy capacity by 2013.

Many industry players feel that a target beyond 2013, and a more ambitious one, was necessary.

O’Connor applauded South Africa’s introduction of the renewable energy feed-in-tariff (Refit), and said that it has been shown all over the world, that this is the only model that works to push the growth of renewable energy. He added, however, that there were some follow up details that needed to be clarified.

A clear set of rules, which were transparent and non-discriminatory were needed. In particular, issues regarding access to the grid needed to be clarified, as well as power purchase agreements. A plant operator could not risk having it's power constrained off the grid, or not purchased, by the single buyer. In South Africa’s case, the single buyers office, under the Refit, was situated within Eskom.

Mainstream Renewable Power has signed an €850-mllion joint-venture (JV) deal with Cape Town based Genesis Eco-energy, with the intention of building wind farms in the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape, with an initial project pipeline of some 500MW by 2014.

“We are mega-serious about South Africa,” emphasised O’Connor, adding that South Africa could establish itself as a renewable energy example for, not only Africa, but also the Southern Hemisphere.

“We will bring with us massive expertise, and capital - as I believe we will get more than enough debt capacity to build projects in South Africa,” O’Connor said of the JV company – Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa.

“Manufacture can still happen, but things must happen at government level,’ he stressed.

Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa has planning permission to build a 16-MW wind power plant near Jeffreys Bay, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

O’Connor noted that as soon as all of the details of the rules of play under the Refit were finalised, the company would begin with construction of the plant. This was expected to be in 2010. “We are putting in a massive effort to get this done by 2010,” he said.

The company planned to increase the generating capacity of the plant over time, and also had plans for a wind power plant near Colesburg in the Eastern Cape.

O’Connor said that South Africa was “pregnant with potential,” and if a renewable energy company could get things right with a pilot project in South Africa, there was a big leap to make into the greater region.