The world’s leading wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas, which is building 435 MW of capacity in South Africa and has a further 90 MW advancing towards financial close, has opened permanent offices in Johannesburg, from where it intends pursuing South African and African growth opportunities.

In an interview with Engineering News Online ahead of the official opening of Vestas’ Southern Africa head office, global CEO Anders Runevad said the Danish company was once again on a growth drive, following the completion of a two-year turnaround programme, during which it had unburdened itself of €1-billion in debt.

“We have, today, a much more stable company  . . . and we now need to change gear and get more into a growth scenario, and South Africa, of course, is of keen interest for us, because we see good potential for growth.”

In 2013, South Africa accounted for about 5% of its 5 964 MW orders and Vestas has expanded from a zero base in 2010 to occupy a leading market position, with seven projects, 25 permanent employees and more than 400 people employed across its construction sites.

Runevad praised the country’s “clear and transparent” market rules, but encouraged government not to veer materially from the wind-energy ambitions outlined in the current Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was in the process of being updated.

The current plan allocates 8 400 MW for wind energy between 2010 and 2030, but a draft IRP update includes a ‘base case’ that reduces that allocation to 4 360 MW. The possible downscaling has been criticised by the South African Wind Energy Association, which warns that it could result in South Africa failing to take full advantage of both its wind resources and the localisation opportunities arising around the development of wind farms.

“From our point of view, the less changes in the overall ambition the better,” Runevad said, stressing the long-term nature of the projects, which thrived in contexts of high levels of certainty.

Vestas was also aligning its domestic operations to the South African government's localisation ambitions and had thus far been able to meet the thresholds set out in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme – thresholds which had increased from 25% during the first bid window to 40% in the third and latest.

Country manager Phylip Leferink revealed that the company was continuing to investigate localisation opportunities beyond tower manufacture, but said it was premature to release details of specific programmes.

“Local job creation is important for all countries, but it is also important to strike the right balance. If you push too far on local production . . . then the price goes up,” Runevad said. The permanent job opportunities associated with the 20-year-plus operations and maintenance of wind farms were also significant and “often undervalued”.

Besides South Africa, Vestas was bullish about prospects for wind energy in countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. These prospects would be pursued from Johannesburg, which was the group's twenty-fourth office globally and was chosen not for its proximity to wind resources, but for its proximity to the country's economic, financial and political decision-makers.

“We would have liked to be closer to our projects, but Sandton is a stone’s throw from the banks and the lawyers and the lenders. So it was a pure business decision,” Leferink concluded.