Across the globe, climate change and the drive to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy has created immense opportunities for renewable energy. This has become one of the leading sectors in the world in terms of investments, driving development of the “Green Economy”. On 28 June 2022, the Tshwane Economic Development Agency (TEDA) held an influential Renewable Energy Roundtable which has sparked critical thinking in the sector. The event was hosted at the Maslow Hotel, Pretoria and was well attended by key stakeholders, investors, Tshwane municipal dignitaries, and business chambers.
The Strategy adopted by TEDA in November 2021 directed the organisation to focus on key priority sectors with the potential to accelerate growth in the City of Tshwane. One of these priority sectors identified is the Green Economy. TEDA’s mandate is to cultivate an environment within which the City of Tshwane can grow its human capital and the economy. This still holds true today, with the expansion of the mandate to 16 broadly defined focus areas with particular attention on project portfolio management; trade and investment intelligence; trade and investment promotion and aftercare; and export promotion. In line with this mandate, the Renewable Energy Roundtable was held as an inaugural session of a series of investment focused TEDA Roundtables to be held in 2022.
Upcoming events will focus on the aviation and automotive sector and agro-processing. At this first event, the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Development and Spatial Planning, Cllr Andre Leroux confirmed the importance of investing in renewable energy; especially in light of the current Stage 4 to 6 load shedding implemented. “Without solving this energy crisis confronting South Africa – and, by extension, the City of Tshwane - economic growth will remain a pipe dream.” He added that the purpose of the Roundtable was to answer requests from the industry while driving investment in renewable energy and the green economy.
During the Roundtable, speakers facilitated a discussion among stakeholders in the green economy sector, providing clarity on the regulatory framework to support the sector. An update was given on Africa’s unique industrial biogas waste to energy plants in Bio2Watt located in Bronkhorspruit – which started supplying electricity in 2015 and has been recognised with the Energy Award Project of the Year in 2015 by the South African National Energy Association.
Speakers included Cllr Leroux; Anjue Hirachund, TEDA Chair and Clifford Ndlovu (Programme Director), investment manager from Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, who explained the purpose of the event; Annelize van der Merwe, Director: Green Economy Industries Investment South Africa, Department of Trade, Industry & Competition who outlined the power of investing in the green economy; Chisilo Mwanza, Compliance Monitoring Engineer at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) who detailed the regulatory framework around green energy and highlighted project investments in municipalities; David Sekgororwana, Business Development Manager at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) who discussed the support and funding solutions for renewable energy projects; and Sean Thomas, Managing Director at Bio2Watt (Pty) Ltd who explained the value of partnerships in greening the economy.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced energy reforms which empower municipalities to embrace renewable energy projects, effectively increasing private sector interest and investment in the renewable energy sector. This creates vast opportunities as municipalities can now also play a significant role in energy generation projects,” concludes Boitumelo Mathole, Acting CEO, TEDA. “The TEDA Renewable Energy Roundtable was a great success, facilitating discussions and exploring opportunities in the green economy, while highlighting the capabilities which already exist in the sector – spurring investment further. We are greatly encouraged by the insights shared, enthusiasm shown, and potential for a true and imminent energy solution.”
“We have received positive feedback from stakeholders and we are also happy that the City of Tshwane was able to provide inputs that will help potential investors to package projects that will be very attractive to the market. This has been also bolstered by the NERSA, IDC and DTIC inputs which at least gave guidance to them” concludes Mathole. The roundtable was followed by business networking sessions and B2B meetings which are likely to produce positive outcomes and possible investments for the City of Tshwane.