The phenomenal development of South Africa’s renewable-energy industry has quietly gained momentum since Presi-dent Jacob Zuma’s committment four years ago at the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to ease the carbon intensity of the country, World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA) chairperson Valli Moosa said at the recent WWF-SA 2013 Living Planet conference.

He said the nation had become one of the world’s biggest centres for renewable-energy developments, with over 3 700 MW of renewable-energy projects under construction.

Between R120-billion and R150-billion was currently being spent on these initiatives – most of which was being sourced from foreign and private investors.

These included biogas, which was rapidly becoming a fast-growing industry in South Africa, solar energy and wind energy projects.

Moosa commented that South Africa had shown that a developing country had the ability to successfully roll out significant pro-jects and its “big success” was a noteworthy achievement.

He indicated that more was to come with government possibly endorsing another 2 808 MW renewable-energy capacity under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

The Department of Energy recently closed the third round of bidding under the REIPPPP and Energy Minister Ben Martins said that it was premature to say whether further renewable-energy projects would be added to the confirmed list of 17 preferred projects.

However, the matter was receiving “serious consideration”, with a decision expected in November.

Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies indicated that the nation had an opportunity to stimulate its industrialisation ambitions and ensure gains from the development of a green economy, which would likely deliver the largest number of new jobs.

South Africa’s build-up to an “industrial revolution” incorporating the development of a green economy would significantly boost the local manufacturing base, as opportunities to produce the technologies required for a green future were seized.

The country was currently in talks with China, which was undertaking its own large-scale move to green technologies and had become the world leader with regard to green economies, to ensure that the technologies enabling the carbon-conscious move were manufactured locally, as opposed to imported, and that manufacturing hubs were set up in South Africa.

This would allow the country to reduce its carbon intensity without undermining the prospects of industrial development, while delivering access to services to citizens and areas that had previously been without these, citing the large-scale roll-out of solar water geysers as an example.

“The green economy goes much further than renewables,” Davies noted, explaining that even the automotive sector, which accounted for about 20% of the world’s carbon emissions, had attempted to ease global carbon emissions with the unveiling of several new electric and hybrid vehicles.

However, he indicated that South Africa might not be ready for the uptake of electric vehicles, which would likely be energy-intensive and strain the already under-pressure national grid when they are recharged. He said South Africans generally did not examine the long-term benefits of the lower operating costs, but instead focused on the immediate expense associated with buying the costly cars.

Further, while other countries offered incentives or subsidies to stimulate the uptake of electric vehicles, South Africa had not planned such initiatives, as more people currently relied on public transport than those who owned private vehicles and the development of a sufficient public-transport system remained a priority.

However, Davies said awareness of the cost-saving and environmental benefits of owning electric and hybrid vehicles needed to be created and, while it was not on the cards at this stage, it was likely that, at some stage, government could invest in a fleet of such vehicles for official use.