With South Africa's electricity largely still generated from fossil fuels and the lengthy processes involved in commissioning renewable energy, civil engineering company Epitome Consulting GM Clement Mokoenene says transferring high volumes of traffic energy into electricity could significantly change the electricity landscape in Africa.
Owing to this, he enthuses that the company's Vehicle Energy Harvesting System (VEHS) was developed after having seen the impact of an Airbus A380 landing in 2011.
“That got me thinking about the pressure and heat a plane puts on the runway, and, from there, I looked at our roads and the potholes which are a clear indication of how much pressure they are under,” he said.
This, in turn, led him to consider ways in which this pressure could be harvested to generate electricity.
He explained that the VEHS involves installing an overlay on an existing road, extracting the pressure and transferring it to the side of the road, similar to a wind turbine that then creates electricity.
The result is electricity at a much lower, affordable price than the 90% of South African energy that is currently generated in coal-fired power stations and has a huge environmental cost.
Further, seen as as an opportunity to partner with poor communities, Mokoenene enthused, the VEHS technology is able to promote job opportunities and skills development by involving communities in the assembly, installation, operation and maintenance of the system.
For developing the VEHS, Mokoenene was announced as South Africa's representative at the international finale of The Chivas Venture 2018, where he stands a chance to win his share of $1-million in business funding.
Mokoenene has already won R350 000, which he says is a welcome revenue injection to further improve and build more efficient components for the VEHS.
Commenting on the upcoming international competition in May, he stated that the event presented an opportunity to improve the VEHS and gain international exposure that might lead to further investment.