volume 9 number 3 spring 2003 ......energy management news what is a city energy strategy ..... 1...

Energy Management News

What is a City Energy Strategy .......................... 1

FOEI Africa Meeting ............................................ 3

Citation on Costa John Rallis - Graduation Ceremony at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg .............................. 4

WPC Chairperson appointment of South African Chapter .................................. 5

New "Marrakech Process" Promotes Sustainable Consumption and Production on an International Basis ............................ 6

WWEA will take its seat at future UN Campus in Bonn .................................... 7

Secretary-General of Johannesburg Summit appointed Special Adviser for World Information Summit ............................................ 7

Danida CDM Mission Report and Comments ...... 8

The World Wind Energy Conference and Renewable Energy Exhibition ................ 9

Lessons from the North American Blackout ..... 10

Building an energy effi cient home ............ 11

Energy Caucus is formed ........................... 11

SEA to host City Energy Strategies Conference ... 12

Synopsis of the SECCP project co-ordinator's input to the Enegy Effi ciency Workshop ......... 13

Just how green are you? .................................... 14

National Energy Effi ciency Week ..................... 15

Renewable Energy and Energy Effi ciency Partnership Southern Africa Regional Meeting ... 16

New wind power website launched .................. 17

Third World Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition 2004 ........................................ 17

City of Cape Town appeals against PBMR ........ 14

Wind industry future lies beyond Germany -domestic success vital for globl expansion ...... 19

Rural school experiments with renewable energy ............................................................... 21

Energy Events 2003/4 .............................. 22

Sponsored by Escom

VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3 http://www.eri.uct.ac.za SPRING 2003

What is a City Energy Strategy?

Energy plays a central role in the functioning of cities, and yet, South African cities are very new to current global energy debates. South Africa has ratifi ed the Kyoto Protocol and is one of the developing world’s heaviest carbon emitters: this means that, while we are not yet obligated, South African cities should become part of leading the way in reducing carbon emissions. Driven by issues of climate change and inspired by cost savings and bet-ter service delivery, other cities around the world are making pioneering and cutting edge interventions to address their energy issues in an integrated way. This is having far reaching implications for these cities in terms of social devel-opment, environmental sustainability, service delivery, citizen involvement and resource effi ciency.

A major component of urban poverty is energy poverty. About 25% of a poor household’s income is spent exclusively on acquiring the necessary energy to sustain life. This is a hidden cost exacer-bated by poor access, and by the energy sources that people can access often being unsafe, unhealthy and expensive. While electrifi cation is important, on its own it does not necessarily address all the energy service needs of poor house-holds. A more integrated approach to

energy is required – one which is driven by an understanding of demand and not just supply issues. For example, people need warm houses in winter and hot water – the response to this could be energy effi cient housing interventions (e.g. ceilings) and solar water heaters as part of a job creation program rather than a costly, ineffi cient and unsustain-able energy supply response.

Many energy effi ciency interventions in local authority functions can pay for themselves over a period of time, and then start releasing money (savings) towards achieving other development objectives. Interventions in public build-ings are one example. Just converting to energy effi cient light bulbs in Cape Town’s Civic Centre can save R1.3 mil-lion per year. In the Parow Administra-tive Building (Cape Town), it was found that 30% of the electricity bill could be saved with primarily user behaviour change. Through the introduction of more efficient pumping technology and scheduling in water supply systems and more effi cient aeration systems in wastewater treatment works, electric-ity and money can also be saved. Transport in Cape Town accounts for more than half of the city’s total energy consumption, so intervention promoting a more effi cient public transport system

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also holds great potential for improving living standards and saving energy.

A City Energy Strategy is a plan that aims to institutionalise sustainable en-ergy approaches and practices at the local level, within a framework that has a clear vision and direction. It will co-or-dinate ad-hoc energy projects and ac-tivities, and will help to integrate energy objectives into relevant functions and programs. It can improve service deliv-

ery and quality of life, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Aims of conference

This ground breaking conference ains to:

• motivate and demonstrate the im-portance of city energy strategies as integral to city development strategies

• illustrate and develop through inter-national and local case studies the content of an integrated city energy strategy

• equip cities to formulate and imple-ment a city energy strategy within the context of their development strategy.

Target audience

This very focussed conference of

Local Authority Energy Strategy (LAES)

A Local Authority Energy Strategy (LAES) is a plan that aims to institutionalise sustainable energy approaches and prac-tices at the local level, within a framework that has a clear vision and direction. It will co-ordinate ad hoc energy projects and activities, and will help to integrate energy objectives into relevant functions and programs. It can improve service delivery and quality of life, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Many energy effi ciency interventions in local authority functions can pay for themselves over a period of time, and then start releasing money (savings) towards achieving other development objectives as mentioned. Interventions in public buildings such as Cape Town’s Civic Centre and the Parow Administrative Building are examples. Converting to light emitting diodes traffi c signals in Cape Town can save 12 million kwh/month and R200 000 in maintenance cost per year.

What does this actually mean?

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about 250 participants is particularly intended for politicians and offi cials from local government. Energy is a cross-sectoral issue, and mayors, city managers, councillors and senior offi -cials from all the relevant departments should attend. Programme

The conference will be inspirational and practical and will build on why a city energy strategy is so important, what it is and how to do it. It will look at:

• energy strategies and competitive cities – how having an energy strat-egy in place is part of establishing a city’s comparative advantage in the global economy

• energy strategies and inclusive cities – energy poverty, access to urban goods, quality of life

• why sustainable energy is every-one’s business

• energy and improving municipal fi nancial sustainability

• the role of cities in climate change and carbon mitigation

• energy effi ciency and the respon-sibilities and opportunities for local authorities

The review of international and local case studies will provide a strategic perspective for planning programmes and projects. As one of the fi rst “south cities” to develop such a strategy, the City of Cape Town will be presenting its energy strategy process and con-tent. A toolkit will enable participants to start the process in their own local authorities.

The conference will conclude with the launch of the African Energy Cities Network.

� Contact: Kathy Viscardi African Equations Tel: 021–461 5735 Fax: 021–461 5775

E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.sustainable.org.za/ CESConference.htm

Cost: R900 per delegate –

Incl. carbon tax

Hosted by CITY OF CAPE TOWNISIXEKO SSASEKAPA

STAD KAAPSTAD

In association with

FOEI Africa

meetingEarthlife Africa (ELA) is a member of Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and was represented by Rich-ard Worthington at a meeting of African members in Togo in July. In addition to considering issues of South-North rela-tions within FOEI, the meeting drafted a campaigns action programme, focus-ing on NEPAD and with an initial focus on energy.

For example, FOE Cameroon will be preparing a case study of the priva-tisation of their national energy utility and resulting deterioration of services. They will also prepare a report on lo-cal impacts of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline. ELA will be inviting Eskom to share information about their plans under the banner of NEPAD, includ-ing a proposed/contemplated African Energy Fund and specifi cs of the ‘long value chain’ projects that are said to accompany grid extensions.

FOE Africa has an on-going interest in the spread of projects supported by in-ternational fi nancing institutions (IFIs) and is anxious to encourage a greater share of energy spending and a better fi nancing regime for renewable energy technologies and projects that deliver benefi ts at the local level. Members in Nigeria are still addressing the im-mediate impacts of oil extraction and all African members share an interest in building capacity for adaptation to climate change.

� Contact: Richard Worthington SECCP

E-mail: [email protected]

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Citation on Costa John Rallis -Graduation Ceremony at the

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Costa John Rallis was born in Maputo, Mozambique, on 6 June 1925. The fi rst languages he spoke were Greek and Portuguese, but his education, both in Mozambique and in South Africa, was through the medium of English. He graduated from the University of the Wit-watersrand, with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1946 and continued to a Master's degree, which he was awarded in 1948. He joined the staff of the then Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1947 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1955.

During his first sabbatical leave, he attended the School of Gas Turbine Technology in Farnborough and the Reactor School at Harwell. He also worked in the Gas Turbine Design Offi ce of the English Electric Company and attended a course on heat transfer at Oxford University. On returning to Wits, he was appointed Acting Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department - a post he held for two years.

After obtaining his PhD in 1963, Pro-fessor Rallis was appointed to the De Beers Chair of Fluid Mechanics. In 1966 he accepted an appointment as the James Fulton Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical En-gineering at the University of Natal, a position he relinquished to spend two years in industry as Joint Managing Director of the Millers Electrical Lines group of companies.

This short sojourn in commerce and industry convinced him that he was not a businessman at heart and he re-turned to Wits as the Transvaal Industries Professor of Applied Mechanics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He subsequently took over the John Orr Chair of Thermodynamics, a post which he held until he retired in 1990. In 1991 his reputation as a teacher of engineer-

ing design brought him an invitation to take up a one-year post as Stocker Visit-ing Professor at the University of Ohio. Onhis return, he was appointed Emeritus Professor and Honorary Professorial Re-search Fellow in the department.

Professor Rallis's ability to hold, at different times in his career, chairs in fl uid mechanics, solid mechanics and thermodynamics is a refl ection of the breadth and depth of his knowledge and understanding of mechanical engineering. It is this range of know-ledge and his ability to integrate the fields that has given him, not only amongst his colleagues in academe but also in industry, a reputation as an outstanding engineer.

He has been an active member of a number of societies and professional bodies, particularly the South Africa Institution of Mechanical Engineering on which he has served as council member, president, editor of the journal and chairman of the editorial board. He also served as a member of the Government Committee of Enquiry into the Education

and Training of Technicians and as a planner of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Professor Rallis is a member of six professional bodies in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

His greatest contribution to the pro-fession, and more particularly to the University and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, lies in his commitment to teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His dedication to the University is exemplifi ed by the fact that he served for a total of twenty-one years as Dean and Deputy Dean of the Men's Hall of Residence. In this role he infl uenced thousands of students in all disciplines to appreciate the value of hard work, integrity and commitment.

In 1956, while acting head of depart-ment, Professor Rall is init iated a restructuring and reorganization of the department in order to modernize its teaching effort. This commitment to effective teaching, driven by a

� Left to Right: Chancellor of Wits, Judge Richard Goldstone, Professor Rallis, and the Vice-Chancellor of Wits, Professor Loyiso Nongwa

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very real interest in the development of his students, continued until his retirement. His particular contribution at the undergraduate level was the development of the teaching of engineering design, introducing content and techniques that were often in advance of contemporary international practice. In the 1950s and 1960s, he believed the tendency to focus engineering education almost exclusively on theory and analysis and to ignore creative application on thegrounds that it was diffi cult to teach and considered not academically respectable, was a serious fault. He took an early lead in introducing creative application to the curriculum, an approach that is now widely recog-nized and applied all over the world. His initiatives placed the University of the Witwatersrand at the cutting edge of engineering education, both in South Africa and internationally.

It is, however, in the fi eld of postgra-duate studies that Professor Rallis has contributed most substantially to the development of teaching. He was an early driving force behind the conversion of the department from what was essentially an undergraduate teaching facility to a fully fledged university department granting masters and doctoral degrees and with an enviable reputation for capability in experimental research.

During his tenure, Professor Rallis per-sonally supervised some 52 M Sc and postgraduate projects and 17 PhDs. At least 12 of these graduates have achieved positions of eminence in indus-trial and academic fi elds in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Holland and the United States. A number of the current senior staff in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering were his postgraduate students.

He has made a signifi cant contribution to the development of high-level engi-neering skills in previously disadvan-taged communities. One of his doctoral and four of his masters graduates from these communities and several others are well on their way to completing post-graduate courses. His ability to excite

and stimulate students, while demand-ing academic standards of the highest order, accounts for his enormous contri-bution to the development of high-level skills in his students.

Professor Rallis is recognized as a world authority on the analysis of thermodynamic cycles and is particularly known for his work on Stirling engines, a field in which he has remained active to the present day. He is believed to have been the only person in the 20th century to have a thermodynamic cycle named after him. One of the major texts in the fi eld, Stifl ing Cycle Engineering Analysis, is dedicated to him by its authors, Urieli and Berchowitz. One of the world's leading companies dealing with Stirling Engine technology is largely staffed by his graduate students.

Costa Rallis's impact on engineering teaching and on the development of a generation of graduates committed to high quality research and engi-neering application constitutes a major contribution to the profession of mechanical engineering in this country. It is with great pride that the University bestows upon Costa John Rallis the degree of Doctor of Science in Engineering, honoris causa.

� Contact: Prof. Costa Rallis 9A Seventh Avenue Parktown North Johannesburg 2193 Tel: (011) 442 6486 E-mail: [email protected]

� Professor Rallis’s wife, Lucy, proposing a toast

WPC

Chairperson

appointment of

South African

Chapter

The Executive Committee of the South African National Committee of the World Petroleum Congress (WPC) was pleased to announce that, at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 19th June 2003 in Cape Town and Jo-hannesburg (via video link), Ms Zellah Fuphe, Managing Director of Afric En-ergy Resources, was appointed Chair-person of the South African Chapter of this prestigious organisation.

Zellah has over 12 years experience in the oil industry, which is varied and spans at both the operational and stra-tegic levels of the industry.

The WPC is an international forum es-tablished in 1933, to promote the man-agement of petroleum resources and the sharing of scientifi c and technical information for the benefi t of all. The WPC has 59 member countries partici-pating through their respective country committees. Although it functions as an apolitical organisation, it welcomes the support of governments and national oil companies and institutions.

The prime function of the WPC is to organise three yearly congresses at which information on the industry can be disseminated. These congresses are regarded as the Olympics of the oil and gas industry congresses. Coun-tries regard it an extreme honour to be selected to host a congress.

South Africa was awarded the privilege to host the WPC 2005 Congress after a successful bidding round, which required the South African Commit-tee, together with its bidding partner,

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Sandton Convention Centre, to give presentations to the WPC in China and required the South African facilities to be inspected by the WPC. South Africa was formally awarded the congress in March 2002 and handed the banner to commence marketing and planning at the 17th WPC held in Rio during Sep-tember 2002.

� Contact:

Ms Zellah Fuphe Chairperson Tel: +27 11 783 9515 Fax: +27 11 783 9371 E-mail: [email protected]

Mr Colin McClelland Deputy Chairperson Tel: +27 21 419 8054 Fax: +27 21 419 8058 E-mail: [email protected]

Mr Jack Holliday Secretary Tel: +27 21 938 3512 Fax: +27 21 938 3553 E-mail: [email protected]

New “Marrakech Process” Promotes Sustainable

Consumption and Production on an International Basis

Agreement was reached at an inter-national gathering held in Marrakech in late-June 2003, on mapping out a 10-year plan for improving patterns of production and consumption, and turning international commitments on sustainable behaviour into reality.

The new ‘Marrakech Process’ will be an instrument to develop and implement the long-term plan which world leaders agreed to at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit. It follows up on agreements reached at the Summit to accelerate the shift towards sustainable lifestyles that promote social and economic develop-ment for all.

Current patterns of behaviour are tax-ing the planet’s life support systems beyond repair, and are also severely imbalanced, with 15 per cent of the world’s population accounting for more than half of the world’s total consump-tion. More than 100 participants from 60 countries attended in this Moroc-can city.

The ‘Marrakech Process’ will involve ex-pert task forces and regional meetings on sustainable patterns of consumption and production. Meanwhile, the UN is to prepare a report on international activities needed to address problems related to waste, transportation, con-struction, water and sanitation.

The meeting identifi ed a number of key priorities for the framework plan, includ-ing the development of policies that integrate the economic, environmen-tal and social aspects of sustainable behaviour. Strategies should include a mix of regulations, economic incentives and communication tools to change patterns of behaviour, and involve partnerships between government

agencies, international organizations, private enterprise, and public interest organizations.

The Marrakech meeting was orga-nized by the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs, in cooperation with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It was chaired by the Secretary of State of the Environment for Morocco and Ambassador for the Environment of Sweden.

The report of the meeting will be pre-sented to the 12th session of the Com-mission on Sustainable Development in April 2004 and UNEP’s Governing Council in February 2004.

� Contact:

Rolando Gomez UN Department of Public Information (New York) Tel: +1 212 963 2744


Mourad Ottmani UN Information Centre (Rabat) Tel: +212 37 76 86 33 E-mail: [email protected]

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WWEA will take its seat at future

UN Campus in BonnThe World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) will open its new head offi ce in the former German capital Bonn, Germany. The WWEA office will be located in Charles-de-Gaulle-Strasse, very closely to the future UN Campus. During the last years, the City of Bonn has become a centre of international cooperation, and thus, offers excel-lent conditions for WWEA’s work on promoting renewable energies at a global level.

The WWEA will share the offi ce loca-tion with the Forest Stewardship Coun-cil (FSC), the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Label-ling Alliance (ISEAL) and the Climate Action Network (CAN). Several UN organisations like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) and many further international organisations like Eurosolar and the World Council for Renewable Energy have headquarters in Bonn as well.

The International Conference for Re-newable Energies will take place in Bonn in June 2004 following an invita-tion of German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. The WWEA is contributing to the preparation of this conference directly by Ms Jane Kruse (Denmark), who has been invited by the German Government to represent the WWEA on the International Steering Commit-tee of the Conference. The WWEA will use this important event at its new seat as a platform to inform the participat-ing governments and international organisations about the benefi ts and requirements ofbroad utilisation of wind energy.

The WWEA secretariat has already

moved to Bonn to a temporary offi ce in Eduard-Pfl üger-Strasse, until the fi nal offi ces will be available in autumn.

The WWEA President, Dr. Preben Maegaard, is very pleased about this important step of moving to Bonn: “We are very happy to take our headquarters in Bonn right before the International Conference for Renewable Energies will take place in the city. We appreciate very much that the City of Bonn has given us the possibility to take our seat at such a perfect location. The close neighbourhood of important interna-tional players in the fi elds of environ-ment and sustainable development will offer very good synergistic opportuni-ties to our work.”

� Contact:

Dr. Preben Maegaard, WWEA President, Tel. +45 21 27 66 77

Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary-General, Tel. +49 228 369 90 83

Secretary-General

of Johannesburg

Summit

appointed

Special Adviser

for World

Information

Summit In July, United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, appointed Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as his Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which aims to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor. Mr. Desai was the Secretary-General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg last year. The WSIS is the fi rst summit to deal with the information society, including critical issues in the use of information and communications technology for development. Taking place in two phases, fi rst in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003, then in Tunis in No-vember 2005, it is being held under Mr. Annan’s patronage and has been wel-comed by the UN General Assembly. “The existing digital divide threatens to exacerbate the gaps between rich and poor, within and among countries,” Mr. Annan said in a statement issued by a spokesman. He called on “leaders from the developed and developing world, private sector and civil society to use the unique opportunity provided by the Summit to forge an action plan that will put technology at the service of human development.”

“We are delighted Mr. Desai has agreed to assist us in the successful comple-

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tion of WSIS,” said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The General Assembly has invited the ITU to take the lead responsibility in orga-nizing the Summit, with full support from the UN family.

For his part, Mr. Desai felt “very hon-oured by the Secretary-General’s re-quest to be his advisor on this summit, which is going to be dealing with issues that will have a profound effect on how our societies develop in the twenty-fi rst century.”

Some 700 delegates attending a WSIS intercessional meeting in Paris in July, agreed to refi ne the draft outcome doc-uments of the Summit - a declaration of principles and an action plan. “We had a very positive meeting, with construc-tive discussions,” said Mark Furrer, the Head of the Swiss Delegation at the in-tercessional meeting. The third and fi nal session of the Preparatory Committee for the Summit will take place from 15 to 26 September in Geneva. � Contact:

Gary Fowlie, ITU, E-mail: [email protected]

Edoardo Bellando Tel: (212) 963 8275 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.itu.int/wsis/

South Africa has co-operated with Denmark on environmental develop-ment under the Mifresta (Environment, Peace and Stability) frame since 1995. One of the themes for the co-operation is Sustainable Energy, with a focus on the promotion of energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean energy technologies. Part of the sustainable energy activities is to support initia-tives relating to the development and implementation of the United Nations Climate Change Convention, including the Kyoto Protocol and its Clean De-velopment Mechanism (CDM). Thus, to support capacity development for the Designated National Authority (DNA) formed a part of the Urban Environ-ment Programme of 2002.

The Draft Danish Climate Change Strat-egy was recently published and subse-quent activities have been initiated in order to ascertain how achievements of commitments under the Kyoto Pro-tocol could be ensured. While the Dan-ish Government is presently fi nalizing in detail its position on how to comply with the Kyoto Protocol commitments, it was decided to initiate activities in 2003 to prepare for the use of the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol.

Provisions are made in the 2003 Budget for the identifi cation and development of CDM-related initiatives as a part of the cooperation on environmental development in developing countries. One of the objectives is to support the establishment of necessary frameworks for the identifi cation, development and administrative processing of CDM projects with a focus on local capacity development.

In light of the above, a CDM Mission was fi elded to South Africa in May 2003.

The immediate objective of the mission was: (i) to conduct an initial review of present initiatives and institutional set-tings on climate change and CDM in South Africa; and, (ii) to identify areas and activities for Danish support in collaboration with the South African Government, Private Sector and Civil Society.

The Royal Danish Embassy is in the process of commenting on the Final Mission Report and would therefore appreciate additional comments from all stakeholders.

The Embassy would like to extent a note of thanks to all Officials, Non Governmental Organisations, The Pri-vate Sector, Consultants, Civil Society and Individuals who have participated in meetings with the Danida Mission Team and staff of the RDE. This report would not have been possible without all parties’ valuable input and time.

� Contact: Jacquelene Friedenthal Tel: (012) 430 9353 E-mail: [email protected]

Danida CDM Mission Report and

Comments

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The World Wind Energy Conference and Renewable Energy Exhibition (WWEC),

23 – 26 November 2003, Cape Town International Convention Centre,

Cape Town, South AfricaThe programme of the second World Wind Energy Conference has been fi nalised: Over 120 speakers and 40 poster presentations have been con-fi rmed from 33 countries and will con-tribute to a highly prestigious event. The speakers’ panel consists of high-level government representatives, leading international scientists and experienced entrepreneurs. They will present illumi-nating accounts, case studies and suc-cess stories of the development of wind energy in their respective countries, and discuss steps for the further proliferation of wind energy. The special focus is on how to bring wind energy to African and non-African developing countries.

The complete WWEC programme can be downloaded from www.sbs.co.za/wwec2003.

The event has attracted strong support from the South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) and has been generously sponsored by sev-eral government bodies: the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida), the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety and InWEnt – Ca-pacity Building International (Germany). Furthermore, over 60 international wind energy organisations are supporting the event.

The conference programme is structured around the following eight themes:

1. Global Markets – covering the experiences, status and potential for wind energy by continent;

2. Policy Issues – global policy issues and initiatives, legal frameworks and

options, public promotion systems, environmental regulations, local benefits and acceptance, and community case studies;

3. Technology development – aero-dynamics, adaptation to regional re-quirements, improvements in turbine effi ciency, and grid integration,

4. Wind assessment and prediction – modelling of wind energy, assess-ing and mapping resources;

5. Specialised applications – hybrid technology, off-grid and stand-alone systems, hydrogen and water pro-duction, and water pumping;

6. Financing – international fi nancing programmes, private sector experi-ences, the Clean Development Mechanism and emissions credits, trends and funds in fi nancing wind energy;

7. Private sector – success strategies for wind energy enterprises, experi-ences of independent power produc-ers, and local manufacturing;

8. Capacity building – dissemination of information and technologies, in-ternational training and formation ac-tivities, raising public awareness, and joint fi rst/ third world programmes.

Keynote speakers include: representa-tives of the South African Department of Minerals and Energy, the British High Commission, the Canadian Govern-ment, the Danish Government, the Eu-ropean Commission and the European Parliament, the German Government, representatives from the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), heads of the various national and international wind energy associations, environmental or-ganisations and Alternative Nobel prize

winner and General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy, Dr Hermann Scheer.

The WWEC 2003 consists of a confer-ence, exhibition and a number of social functions, including a Wind Instruments Music Festival, providing an excellent op-portunity for companies to promote them-selves to the infl uential participants.

There will be a Renewable Energy Exhibi-tion on renewable energy supplies, prod-ucts and services, where suppliers will gain exposure to the infl uential delegates and decision makers attending the event. The German Ministry for Economics and Labour has sponsored a German pavilion at the trade exhibition.

� Contact: Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary-General Tel: +49 228 369 9083 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.wwindea.org

Erika Schutze, AfriWEA/ SBS Tel: +27 21 914 2888 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.sbs.co.za/wwec2003

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� The Upper West Side of Manhattan is seen from Weehawken, New Jersey

10

Lessons from the North American Blackout

The assault on New York on 11 September 2001 and the power failure in New York and other USA and Canadian cities on 19 August have this is com-mon: it is doubtful whether the culprits will ever be identifi ed. But, whereas the root causes of the terrorism are uncertain, the root causes of the mas-sive electricity blackout all over northeastern USA and Canada are perfectly understood. South Africa would do well to study them.

The workings of a national electricity grid are complicated but in essence it consists of four things: (i) power stations (ii) electricity consumers (iii) transmis-sion and distribution systems; and (iv) controllers. Electricity cannot be stored (except in tiny quantities) and so it is consumed at the instant it is made. The electrical load from the consumers al-ways exactly matches the electrical effort from the power stations. All generators in all power stations on the grid are linked together, all running at exactly the same speed and phase.

The controller looks at three main electri-cal measurements: frequency, voltage and current. Frequency and voltage must remain constant within very tight limits. South Africa’s frequency is 50 cycles a second. You alter the current to alter the power. (Current is measured in amps, power in watts. Watts = volts x amps).

Imagine yourself in a coal power station in Mpumalanga looking at the turbines, which turn the generators. Some of them produce constant power. Others are “load-following”. If more customers plug into the grid, the electrical load will increase and tend to slow down the tur-bines (as your car tends to slow down on a hill). The grid frequency will begin to drop. The load-following turbines will detect this and open their inlet steam valves to push the generator harder to maintain the frequency (as you put your

trip out, presenting the same danger of a cascading failure. The root cause of the blackouts in the USA and Canada was under-capacity in generation and transmission, which in turn, was caused, be chronic under-investment.

In the USA, electricity gen-erators and distributors are in

separate competing companies. Each one wants to please its shareholders by maximising profi ts, which means keep-ing costs down. This means spending as little as possible on new plant. If there is a grid failure, such as has happened, the complexity of the electrical supply system makes it extremely diffi cult to fi nd the ex-act fault, and each company will hire a team of lawyers to prove it was not the culprit. In practise, it means nobody takes responsibility.

South Africa must study this failure very carefully. Eskom’s transmission network is stronger than the USA’s, and it has the advantage of a single controller at Sim-merpan near Johannesburg. (The USA has myriad control centres, multiplying the risk of errors.) However, South Africa, too, has precious little reserve capac-ity in generation, which increases the chances of blackouts here. As in the USA, there is a dangerous reluctance to invest in a new plant.

South Africa is poised at the edge of electricity de-regulation. In fact, “de-regulation” means “re-regulation”. Get-ting the new regulations right is a diffi cult matter, as the USA has demonstrated. We should be cautious.

(Reproduced with the kind permission of Finance Week)

� Contact: Andrew Kenny Energy Research Institute (ERI) University of Cape Town E-mail:[email protected]

foot down to maintain your speed on a hill). The boiler will then take more coal and feedwater to match the turbine.

At some point, the turbines and boilers reach their limits. They cannot produce more power. Then the grid controller has two options. He can shut down custom-ers to reduce the load. Or he can ask a power station to start up another unit. Now a danger looms.

Suppose the controller fails to shut down customers quickly enough and the load increases beyond the total capacity of available power stations. Then the fre-quency will begin to fall, which can be very damaging to electrical machinery. The power station’s fi rst concern is itself: when the frequency falls below a certain limit, it will shut itself down to avoid harm to vital equipment, such as feedwater pumps. So a station shuts down. Now there is less power for the grid, so the frequency drops further. Another trips out. Even less power, a further fall in frequency, yet another trip - and so on into an accelerating cascade. Within minutes, every station is down, and the region is in blackout.

This is what happened in the USA and Canada last week. Of course, the problem lies not just with generation but also with transmission. Power can be sent from one region to another but transmission lines have their limits too. If they take too much current, then they will

EMN Spring_03 10 10/11/03, 5:56:52 PM


11

Building an energy efficient home

Energy Management News was asked by a reader, Ian Thomson of Chevron Texaco, USA, what the requirements were for building an energy effi cient home. He now has an opportunity to build his “dream” house and was look-ing for assistance.

The Editor approached Keith Murray, School of Architecture and Planning, and Denis van Es, Energy Research Institute, both of the University of Cape Town, for their brief comments.

Keith Murray School of Architecture and Planning University of Cape Town E-mail: [email protected]

Firstly, there is a lot (and rapidly grow-ing) of literature on the subject. A lot of this stays safely in theory, the more interesting examples got out there and were built.

Secondly, “energy-efficient” in what way or ways? Self-suffi cient in terms of incoming and outgoing services? Dieter Holm has made his house totally self reliant, the only linked service being a phone line.

A lot of books and trade literature cover this area. Be aware that the PV arena especially is developing rapidly, new techniques and products appearing every week - built out of energy effi -cient and replenishable material, using environmentally friendly construction techniques (e.g. looking at “Rural Studio”, a recent book on the work of the late Samuel Mockbee, authored by Dean and Hursley). Comfortable inter-nal climate via passive or solar-powered means?

Thirdly, build where? Knowing the local environment, climate, cultural, social and economic context would all lead to more specifi c intentions and ideas. For

example, in Zimbabwe, Keith built sev-eral house alterations using only brick for all walls and roofs. This is a North African technique, which he adapted for local conditions, giving a very economic, comfortable, and uplifting environment to live in.

Denis van Es Energy Research Institute (ERI) University of Cape Town E-mail: [email protected]

The topic of energy effi cient homes has been written up for many years now and it is diffi cult to advise of anything really new. The main issue is to minimize heat loss and/ or gains, depending upon whether you are in a cold or hot cli-mate. This is usually taken care of by fi rst insulating the house to the highest cost effective level, at least.

Do not forget to minimize uncontrolled ventilation gains or losses. This means that windows and doors must be tight fi tting.

Orientation and shading devices are im-portant, as they are a virtually zero cost fi rst line of defence, i.e., they admit the sun in cold climates and keep it out in hot climates. There is an additional diffi culty in cold climates as windows that admit the warming sun also let heat out when the sun is not out.

Once you have a minimum energy home, you can then decide on what you use to heat or cool it as appropriate, whether from renewables or the local utility. Do not forget to use heat recovery on the energy losses that can be tapped into, like hot water or air.

The following site is a UK one and prob-ably concentrates on cold climates:http://www.est.co.uk/bestpractice/publications/detail.jsp?pk=206

Energy Caucus is formed

On the 31st July and 1st August, a group of more than 30 civil society organiza-tions from a range of contexts met in Cape Town to discuss the formation of an Energy Caucus. The workshop was hosted by Sustainable Energy Af-rica (SEA) with logistical and fi nancial support from Contact Trust. The Sus-tainable Energy and Climate Change Partnership (SECCP) assisted by fund-ing an independent facilitator, recording the proceedings and supplementing the transport budget. This workshop followed an initial discussion work-shop held in Durban in April this year, when Earthlife Africa, eThekwini and GREEN of Pietermaritzburg worked with Contact Trust to revitalize the caucus process initiated around the WSSD. The workshop was a great success, and culminated in the inauguration of the caucus and the defi nition of the shape, role and guiding principles of this grouping.

The Energy Caucus is essentially com-prised of non-profit organizations, including trade unions, which engage with energy issues. With a fairly loose and flat structure, organizations will engage as participants, each main-taining their individual identities in the discussions. The caucus is to be primarily a discussion forum that will enable the development of common positions on various energy issues by the participants, to drive the struggle for a just transition to sustainable energy. The caucus should assist the partici-pants to engage with decision makers and stakeholders and will play a role in networking and information sharing, building on existing relationships and resources.

Although some issues will still require

EMN Spring_03 11 10/11/03, 5:56:53 PM


12

further discussion and refi nement, a set of broad defi ning principles was agreed upon by all the participants. Any organization wishing to participate in the Energy Caucus discussions will have to subscribe to these principles, which will form the basis for any further articulations. These principles express positions on a range of issues including the recognition of access to basic en-ergy services as a human right, support for sustainable energy and opposition to nuclear energy. A full list of principles will be available once the proceedings of the meeting have been fi nalized.

� Contact: Elin Oettlé SECCP E-mail: [email protected]

SEA to host City Energy Strategies

Conference

In November, Sustainable Energy Africa (SEA) will host the City Energy Strategies Conference with the South African Cities Network and the City of Cape Town (in association with ICLEI and SALGA). SEA is currently working with the City of Cape Town to develop its City Energy Strategy – the fi rst in South Africa and fi rst in Africa. SEA is a Section 21 organization that aims to promote access to sustainable goods and services for development in South Africa and Africa.

The SEED Programme, one of the projects, which SEA has developed, and runs, is a national strategy to build capacity, disseminate information and raise awareness. It is funded by DANI-DA and the local partner organizations. SEED Advisors, who are young black professionals, are trained and placed in the partner organizations and they and their organizations receive ongo-ing support from SEED and the SEED Network. The activities include infor-mation dissemination, lobbying, train-ing and appropriate demonstration, project management and now policy and strategy development.

A handbook for development prac-titioners has been published: The Energy Book for Urban Development in South Africa by Sarah Ward 2002 – reviews of the book can be seen on www.sustainable.org.za where it can also be ordered.

� Contact: Sarah Ward Sustainable Energy Africa

P.O. Box 261, Noordhoek 7979 Tel: (021) 789 2920 Fax: (021) 789 2954 E-mail: [email protected] Websites: www.sustainable.org.za www.sustainable.org.za/ CESConference

EMN Spring_03 12 10/11/03, 5:56:54 PM


13

Synopsis of the SECCP project

co-ordinator’s input to the

Energy Effi ciency Workshop

The Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Partnership (SECCP) wel-comed the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME)’s commitment to a distinct development path for an Energy Effi ciency Strategy, as it now need not be held up by further work required to develop policy for renewable energy. At-tention was drawn to the ‘Independent PAMs Study’, containing detailed con-sideration of policies and measures for energy effi ciency (EE), available from [email protected].

The public sector was the theme for the panel SECCP was invited to join and they consider Eskom to still fall into this category. The DME’s cautious ap-proach to restructuring was welcomed, due to the risks this process poses to public benefi ts. Privatisation, in par-ticular, threatens the public benefi ts achievable through EE, since pursuit of profit is in conflict with reduced electricity (or fuel) sales. Even when a state-controlled entity is charged with improving effi ciency, the drive for income (encouraged by the prospect of privatisation) may compromise such a goal. An example may be found in the Eskom approach to water heating.

An energy service needs approach would dictate using the heat available on the site where hot water is needed, through solar water heating (SWH), with electricity as nothing more than a back-up – as happens in many coun-tries with far less sunshine than our own. Eskom prefers its customers to have electric geysers with ripple-control (allowing remote-controlled interruption of electricity to a geyser), as this allows them to shave peak consumption, thus avoiding over-loading or under-sup-plying the system, with the minimum

reduction in total electricity sales. Thus, a demand side management interven-tion touted by the utility as part of its effi ciency programme, is effectively a barrier to the greater effi ciency available through energy conservation by SWH.

Provided that any electric back-up to a SWH system is on a timer, such sys-tems can make far greater reductions in peak consumption (which drives the development of additional generation capacity), while also maximising sav-ings for the household or building man-agement. The utility or regulator could provide incentive for such practice through time-of-use tariffs (charging a higher rate during peak periods).

While SWH is a renewable energy technology, it is generally neglected in this category. It is often classifi ed as energy conservation, which is part of effi ciency, so SWH should also be con-sidered within an EE Strategy. A distinct target should be set for deployment of SWH (such as half a square metre per person within 10 years) and it should be mandatory for public buildings, ‘RDP’ houses and all homes over a certain value. A special fi nancing mechanism (e.g. through DBSA) should be set up to make SWH affordable to low-income households.

Since water heating accounts for about one third of household energy use, any state support for SWH would be off-set by reduced impacts of coal use, i.e. it would not be a subsidy so much as a corrective market mechanism. [SWH can also be used for space heating – an application to which Highveld winter is particularly well suited. If full life-cycle costs and the benefi ts of such a heating system were compared to the

marginal benefi ts from use of “cleaner coal”, there may be less enthusiasm to try to include “cleaner coal” under the banner of EE.]

The input also made a case for in-troduction of high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOVL) on highways, including as an alternative to adding lanes. Re-serving a ‘fast’ lane for vehicles with 3 or more occupants gives an advantage to public transport and encourages ride-sharing – with great potential for fuel savings. Public sector employers are well placed to encourage ridesharing, and require a minimum participation, as many employees have the same work place and hours. Fewer drivers per day should also deliver a less fatigued and more effi cient workforce. Public sector vehicle fl eets are also a logical place to start implementing fuel-efficiency standards.

As the opening addressed referred to fuel-effi cient driving practices pro-moted by DME, attention was drawn to potential savings through careful use of air conditioning (AC) in cars thus equipped: turning the AC off once the vehicle is comfortable. Using AC for more than 5 minutes in each half hour is an expensive waste of fuel. All public-sector drivers should be instructed to adopt this practice.

� Contact: Richard Worthington, SECCP E-mail: [email protected]

EMN Spring_03 13 10/11/03, 5:56:55 PM


14

Just how green are you?It is appropriate to talk “green” at the start of another Spring. In the mid-twenti-eth century, we described individuals as “green” if they showed ignorance, naïve-té … or if they just weren’t very bright! To label someone green was an insult of the nth degree! Call someone green today, however, … and you’re acknowledging their environmental conscience, and recognising their intelligence in making use of or promoting alternative energies. In fact, the only problem with “greens” today is that there aren’t enough of them! Well … that’s how times and words change … and we have said many times that having a role in Energy in South Africa, indeed the world, is a very dynamic and exciting role to have.

A Mail & Guardian supplement, August 22 - 28 2003, gives details of companies and organisations that have been recog-nised in the M&G 2003 Greening the Future competition. These awards are based on the M&G Investing in the Future Awards, which have been running for 15 years. The “Investing” awards focus on corporate social investment and socio-economic investment, while the “Green-ing” awards focus on environmental best practice and investment in sustainable development. The latter look for proj-ects or initiatives that make a difference both within the companies themselves submitting the entries, and to the lives of the people with whom they have a re-lationship outside the company. Judges look closely at leadership - how goals are outlined and performance measured, how they set targets, and incorporate en-vironmental impact as part of their overall risk assessment and governance. The awards are not bent on “greenwashing” companies - in fact they also serve as a vehicle for shaping policy orientation and discourse on environmental gover-nance within the corporate sector. They focus on environmental impacts within the broader umbrella of sustainable development; they also seek to change behaviour of companies, and organisa-tions by rewarding honest engagement with the concerns of stakeholders, and recognising and celebrating innovation where it is being practiced.

The following summary serves to give a quick and simplifi ed overview of the winning awards for your interest.

• Berg River Textiles, one of thelargest cotton mills in South Africa, based in Paarl, won the “companies/organisations with the most-improved environmental practices” award. Over eighteen months this company improved waste management and introduced cleaner manufacturing processes and in the process, saved millions of rands. The cotton industry is tra-ditionally a dirty industry with high pollution and consumption. Berg River Textiles is setting an example for others in the textile industry to fol-low. An important part of its success has been interesting its employees in sustainability through awareness programmes.

• The winner in the category “com-panies/organisations with the best sustainability” report was Hillside Aluminium. Hillside’s report stood out from other reports because of its integrated approach to human resources, economics and envi-ronmental issues, for being easily accessible and readable, and for being honest and transparent.

• There was no outright winner in the “corporations” category; therefore “special commendation” awards were given to two companies. Sasol Safety, Health and En-vironmental Care was awarded for its proactive stance towards gearing Sasol to becoming a green organisation. Sasol used to be an unpopular neighbour, with its negative environmental impact activities and insensitivity towards the communities, which affected by its business. This has changed dramatically over the past decade at least. CEO Pieter Cox says:

“As a global group with diversifi ed fuel, mining and chemical manu-facturing operations, sustainable development presents us with

some signifi cant challenges, such as climate change and environ-ment protections. We are commit-ted to conducting our business with respect and care for people and the environment, the responsible utilisation of resources, complying with all applicable legal and other agreed requirements and promoting dialogue with stakeholders about safety, health and environmental performance.”

Atmospheric emissions remain one of the biggest challenges facing Sasol although considerable prog-ress has been made in continuing the downward trend in coping with emissions. Despite the improve-ments, Sasol is still disappointed about a number of environmental in-cidents, particularly those resulting in the release of chlorine and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. Apart from all the concrete steps taken by Sasol to reduce waste emissions, reduce water consumption, recover greater volumes of sulphur from the Secunda post-gasifi cation schemes to mention but a few, the company sponsors numerous worthy environ-mental projects - granting more than R13 million to environmental protec-tion annually.

• Sharing the “special commenda-tion” award is Arabella Country Estate, a new development inside an untouched, protected area near Hermanus, Western Cape. It is the only estate located within a bio-sphere reserve - Kogelberg - which has been earmarked by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site. Developers are not known for their concern for the environment - but this estate is determined to preserve the existing environment and con-tinue to monitor and manage the fragile eco-system of which it is now part. The estate is surrounded by the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of only six plant kingdoms in the world. While it is the smallest plant kingdom, it is also the richest, comprising a diverse

EMN Spring_03 14 10/11/03, 5:56:56 PM


15

array of protea species, a wide va-riety of buck, wild cats, reptiles and rare frogs - including the endangered microfrog.

• The winner of the “independent foundations” category is “Oasis Foundation”, a community-based foundation, which assists people who have intellectual disabilities. This organisation was found to be exceptional because of its holistic approach to integrating social con-cerns with environmental issues. This special and unique project has explored the question of recycling and re-use of resources very ef-fi ciently. Based in Claremont, Cape Town, the association’s mission is to enable persons with intellectual disabilities to realise their fullest po-tential - these people are employed in recycling and waste management projects that generate income for the association and contribute to self-sustainability. At the heart of this project are recycling and waste management workshops, or stations, based at Elsies River and Claremont. The workshops provide jobs for more than 300 people with moderate intellectual disabilities who would have diffi culty fi nding work otherwise. The workshops recycle 40 - 60 tons of paper and cardboard a month, more than four tons of plastic, 12.2 tons of glass and 1.3 tons of tin and metal. The workshops provide more than just fi -nancial remuneration for the workers - they provide social and educational opportunities apart from the most im-portant factor - the dignity of work!

(Reprinted through the kind permission of SANEA)

� Contact: Joyce Ferreira SANEA Administrative Offi cer Suite 121, Postnet RAU Private Bag X12, Melville 2109 Tel: (011) 489 2547 Fax: (011) 489 2153


National Energy Efficiency

WeekIn an effort to raise awareness and promote greater effi ciency in energy use, the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), Eskom, and the National Electricity Regulator (NER) hosted the National Energy Effi ciency Week from the 21-25 July 2003. The week included the launch of several Integrated Energy Centres around the country, site visits in local communities and workshops.

Eskom focused chiefl y on individual customers and customer awareness, emphasizing their residential load-management and energy efficiency programs to shift and reduce energy use. Eskom now claims to be pursuing energy effi ciency with growing urgency as their excess capacity begins to run out. Peak load demand is of particular concern as estimates point to the need for new capacity by 2007, while new base load capacity will be needed by 2010 if developments like the Pechiney Aluminium Smelter at Coega come on-line.

The DME was also proud to announce the implementation of energy effi ciency measures in government buildings. Es-kom has put forward R20 million, to be used to cover the costs of conversion and to conduct a full energy audit of the Union buildings. The goal is to eventually have all government-owned facilities upgraded to be energy ef-fi cient. The DME has started with its own buildings by converting to more effi cient lighting systems, and should achieve savings of up to R1.5 million per annum on electricity bills.

One of the main events was the Energy Effi ciency Workshop held on the 24 - 25 July in the Mineralia Building, Pretoria. The fi rst day of the workshop covered a range of topics including energy ef-fi ciency in the public sector, in industry

and transportation and in housing and the built environment.

On the second day, the focus was on appliance labelling for energy effi ciency. From this, it emerged that South Africa may have its own energy effi ciency label by autumn next year, although a suc-cessful launch of the label will require a major education and awareness campaign. Various studies have been conducted on the topic since 1991, and have concluded that energy effi ciency labelling can reduce the energy use of appliances and consumers can gener-ally recover the cost of improving ef-fi ciency through energy savings within the lifetime of the appliance.

A DME offi cial confi rmed that an Energy Effi ciency Strategy document will be developed independently of the White Paper on Renewable Energy and Clean Energy Development and with public participation.

� Contact: Elin Oettlé SECCP E-mail: [email protected]

EMN Spring_03 15 10/11/03, 5:56:57 PM


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Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Partnership Southern Africa

Regional MeetingThe Renewable Energy and Energy Ef-ficiency Partnership (REEEP) meeting provided an opportunity for represen-tatives from seven SADC countries to share information on their domestic situations and consider potential joint initiatives. Common challenges include lack of human and institu-tional capacity and weak and/or in-consistent policies and regulations. It was reported that in South Africa, the Cabinet Economics Committee had referred the Draft White Paper on Renewable Energy back to the Depart-ment of Minerals and Energy (DME) for cost-benefit analysis of implement-ing the target. The aim is to re-submit to cabinet in September.

Dr Caton, the Head of Environmental Policy at the UK Foreign and Com-monwealth Office, characterised the over-all objectives of the REEEP as achieving convergence to a global policy framework and facilitating de-velopment of concrete action plans and projects amongst participants, including bundling of projects to bring down transaction costs and ease financing.

Four working groups were formed to propose actions. The group on Tech-nology Development proposed dra-wing up a strategic plan for the region and prioritising technologies most suitable to our countries; a group on Marketing and Service delivery em-phasised an energy service needs

approach and informing consumers of their options, particularly to promote RE in urban areas; a group on Financ-ing proposed a regional net-work of institutions to facilitate greater deal-flow and lobbying to influence policy, as well as consideration of mixing vari-ous types or sources of funding, such as donor aid to underwrite or leverage foreign direct investment; the Policy and Regulation Group concluded that a document is needed to make the case for RE and EE, with SADC country-specific sections, that should be approved by governments and lead to act ion plans and strong policy.

The 2-day workshop ended on a somewhat inconclusive note, with no clear picture of who (amongst partici-pants beyond the REEEP Secretariat and supporting ‘consultants’/service orgs assisting secretariat) would do what to follow up. Groups nominated representatives to the REEEP but their functions were not defined. Kevin Nassiep (recently seconded from Eskom to the DME as Chief Director: Energy) was nominated by the Policy and Regulation group, and also as the South African representative.

It remains to be seen if participants, particularly governments and financial institutions, will come forward to drive any of the identified actions. Proceed-ings and developments will be posted on the REEEP website.

� Contact: Richard Worthington E-mail:[email protected]

Kevin Nassiep E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.reeep.org

EMN Spring_03 16 10/11/03, 5:56:59 PM


17

The European Wind Energy Associa-tion (EWEA) has upgraded and rede-signed its web site.

The EWEA is publishing an increas-ing number of reports, statistics, and policy papers. The wind industry has experien-ced annual market growth rate of 35% on average in the last five years, and wind is the worlds’ fastest growing energy technology. “The web site is a strong communications tool to increase EWEA’s role as the voice of the wind industry and to serve a rap-idly growing interest from students to journalists to policy makers, all thirsty for information about wind power. www.ewea.org is the gateway to the world of wind power ” said EWEA CEO Corin Millais. The EWEA is the leading wind power Association with a membership cov-ering 98% of the global wind power market, worth €6.8 billion last year.

The web site features include:

• Regular press releases, news updates policy briefings, reports, market statistics

• Coverage of the main pol icy institutions and programmes in Brussels, and worldwide

• Lead story and opinions from the EWEA bimonthly magazine - Wind Directions

• Overview of the mission and goals of the EWEA

• Calendar of conference program-mes and forthcoming events

• Video and photographic materi-als

• Detailed listings of the Association members, including all the leading

New wind power website launched

wind companies, research bodies and the national wind power as-sociations.

� Contact: Luisa Colasimone Communication Director European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) Renewable Energy House rue du Trône 26 - 1000 Brussels (B) Tel: +32 2 546 19 81 Fax: +32 2 546 19 44 Mobile: +32 485 145 411 Website: www.ewea.org

Third World Wind Energy Conference

and Exhibition 2004

The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) has awarded, during the world’s biggest wind energy fair HUSUMwind (Husum, Germany), the third World Wind Energy Conference to be held in Beijing, China, in association with the Chinese Wind Energy Association.

The event will follow the fi rst WWEC 2002 (Berlin, Germany, 2-6 July 2002) and the second WWEC 2003 that will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 23 - 26 November 2003. The WWEC 2005 will be held in Melbourne (Australia) and the WWEC 2006 in New Delhi (India).

China as the world’s largest country is seeking new and renewable sources of energy to satisfy the growing power demand. By the year 2010, 10.000 MW of wind energy capacity is to be installed according to the targets of the Chinese government. The overall onshore poten-tial on the Chinese mainland is even at 253.000 MW at 10 m heights. There are also huge potentials for electrification of rural areas by wind energy as nearly 40 million people are still living in areas where there is no electricity to be used. China has strong interest in international cooperation in developing a fast-growing wind industry.

The event will take place in and will be organised by WWEA and the Chinese Wind Energy Association together with the China International Conference Center for Science and Technology of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agricultural, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China

EMN Spring_03 17 10/11/03, 5:57:00 PM


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Association of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and further organisations have al-ready offered their support to the event.

� Contact: Stefan Gsänger Secretary General World Wind Energy Association Tel: +49 175 940 1518

Mr Zhen Yinjiun Chinese Wind Energy Association: Tel: +86 10 62 180 145

City of Cape Town

appeals against PBMR

The City of Cape Town has lodged an offi cial appeal against the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) Envi-ronmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. In a recent press release, the City stated that they felt the report was “inadequate” as it failed to address many of the concerns raised by them in the past. The appeal was submitted to the Department of Environmental Af-fairs and Tourism before the extended deadline that they were granted of the 25th August.

The City of Cape Town noted that their appeal was a refl ection of the concerns of the citizens of Cape Town, and listed a number of unresolved issues in the report. One of the key concerns was re-garding the assessment of the full costs of the PBMR project. These concerns on the one hand a full life-cycle assess-ment of both the environment and eco-nomic costs of the nuclear waste stored at Koeberg, and on the other, the costs to the city in terms of emergency plan-ning, future spatial planning, land-use and housing. They also raised the issue of a health risk assessment, and future monitoring in terms of radiation levels and health. The City evidently does not feel it has been adequately consulted as a key stakeholder, and expects to be involved in the plan for decommission-ing and rehabilitation after the lifetime of the project. The comments also make it clear that it is the omissions in terms of the long-term impacts of the PBMR project that are of key concern.

Despite the fact that appeals are still be-ing made against the positive record of decision on the EIA on the PBMR, and a court case with Earthlife Africa in Cape

Town is pending, IST Nuclear was re-cently awarded a R260-million contract for the PBMR project. IST was named last year as a supplier for the PBMR, and the new R260-million contract was recently awarded to design three systems for the demonstration plant at Koeberg, and for the 10 commercial models that are set to follow after the 5-year trial. The three systems being designed are for fuel handling and stor-age, reactivity control and shutdown, gas conditioning and control. Earthlife Africa, Cape Town, say that they still feel they still have a strong case against the PMBR project that will hopefully prevent it from being implemented, and there-fore this seems an odd time to be con-fi rming such large-scale contracts.

� Contact: Richard Worthington SECCP E-mail: [email protected]

EMN Spring_03 18 10/11/03, 5:57:01 PM


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Wind industry future lies beyond Germany -

domestic success vital for global expansion

Head of the European wind industry

addresses opening of Husum Trade Fair

“The success of the European wind industry to date has been built in only three countries, with Germany being the leader. To ensure the continued success of the wind sector, the mar-kets must be expanded beyond these few countries. The German wind indus-try has many global opportunities for expansion, and this will rely on a con-tinued buoyant domestic market”, said Professor Arthouros Zervos, President of the European Wind Energy Asso-ciation (EWEA) and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), speaking at a Press Conference for the opening of the Husum Wind Exhibi-tion and conference (1).

Earlier this year, the EWEA launched the global strategic blueprint for the wind industry worldwide. Wind Force 12 outlines how the wind industry, currently a €7 billion sector, is able to grow to €75 billion annually by 2020. (2)

The report shows that there are no technical, economic, or resource limitations for wind power to sup-ply 12% of the world’s electricity by 2020. Today wind power supplies ap-proximately 0.4% of world electricity demand. With stronger political com-mitments worldwide, the wind energy

industry could install an estimated 230 000 MW by 2010, and 1.2 million MW by 2020.

“The three European countries - Ger-many, Spain and Denmark - have ac-counted for over 70% of the 2002 world market. In these three countries, thriv-ing industries and tens of thousands of jobs have been created. These suc-cesses could be rapidly replicated in other countries; the sector is primed for expansion ”, said Zervos. “The German wind sector has the oppor-tunity to take a large share in a global €75 billion industry by 2020”

The EWEA publishes regular Euro-pean market data on the wind in-dustry, with recent statistics for June 2003 showing that 24 904MW of wind power has been installed across all European countries, with 52%, or 12 836MW installed in Germany.

Notes:

(1) Professor Arthouros Zervos is the President of EREC, the umbrella Association of the European re-newable energy industry, trade and research Associations on photovoltaics, small hydropower,

solar thermal, biomass, and wind power.

Professor Zervos was invited to speak at the Husum Wind Industry trade fair Opening Press Confer-ence together with:

• Heide Simonis, Ministerpräsi-dentin des Landes Schleswig-Holstein

• Jürgen Trittin, Bundesminister für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit

• Dr. Bernd Rohwer, Minister für Wirtschaft des Landes Schleswig-Holstein

(2) The Wind Force 12 report is avail-able upon request or can be downloaded at www,ewea,org.

� Contact: Luisa Colasimone Communication Director European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) Renewable Energy House rue du Trône 26 - 1000 Brussels (B)

EMN Spring_03 19 10/11/03, 5:57:02 PM


European Union – 24,626 MW

Other European Countries – 279 MW

Total Capacity – 24,904 MW

Country Total at end Installed Jan-June Toltal by June2002 {MW} 2003 {MW} 2003 {MW}

Germany 12,001 835 12,836

Spain 4,830 230 5,060

Denmark 2,881 36 2,916

Netherlands 678 125 803

Italy 788 12 800

UK 552 34 586

Sweden 328 36 364

Greece 297 57 354

France 148 72 220

Austria 139 80 219

Portugal 196 21 217

Ireland 137 0 137

Belgium 44 12 56

Finland 41 0 41

Luxembourg 16 0 16

European Union 23,076 1,550 24,626

Capacity Installed In European Union Capacity Installed In Other European Countries

Country Total at end Installed Jan-June Toltal by June2002 {MW} 2003 {MW} 2003 {MW}

Norway 97 3 100

Poland 27 30 57

Ukraine 46 5 51

Labria 24 0 24

Turkey 19 0 19

Ctech Republic 7 3 10

Russia 7 0 7

Switzerland 5 0 5

Hungary 2 0 2

Estonia 2 0 2

Romania 1 0 1

Total 237 41 276

Notes: Figures take into account capacity decommissioned. Some country totalsfor end 2002 have been revised since provisional figures were prublished in WindDirections, March 2003.

20

Tel: +32 2 546 19 81 Fax: +32 2 546 19 44 Mobile: +32 485 145 411 Website: www,ewea.org

EMN Spring_03 20 19/11/03, 4:37:25 PM


21

Rural school experiments

with renewable energy

Leading the way to renewable en-ergy, pupils at a rural high school in KwaZulu-Natal have been involved in a project to produce biogas from hu-man waste to assist with their school’s energy needs. Myeka High School is situated in the Inanda Dam Valley near Durban, and was for many years iso-lated from the national grid electricity. Having to find alternative sources of energy to meet their needs, the school was initially part of a schools solar program, and more recently initiated a project to produce biogas for elec-tricity and direct energy needs.

As a pilot project, and the first school biogas project in South Africa, the project has not been without prob-lems, but there have been many les-sons to learn both for the school and its pupils and for those implementing other such projects in the future.

The biogas digester was installed at Myeka High School following a school science project on the topic, which sparked the interest of funders. Solar Engineering Services assisted the school by sourcing funding and helping to install biogas digesters in their school, adapted for their own requirements.

The school’s digester relies largely on human waste rather than animal dung, and is linked to the 16 toilets used by the school. The system uses two 20 000 litre tanks to trap and store the gas, using a floating drum design. The gas is then used to power a small

generator and directly for refrigeration and for the school’s Bunsen burners in the science laboratory. Waste from the tanks is later dried, cured, and used as fertilizer for school gardens.

Although the school has been happy to have a cheaper energy source avail-able, the project has not been without problems. Despite initial training, there have been problems with the mainte-nance of the systems and a lack of school funds and personnel to man-age the system. This is partly due to the common problem of project fund-ing ending, with little follow-up support budgeted for the school. The school has been left to cover maintenance costs on their own, without a clear idea of where the budget will come from. Since the project was initiated, the Eskom electricity network has also finally been extended, and in the last few months the school was connected to the national grid.

Although the school was happy to re-place their solar systems with a more reliable supply, it remains to be seen whether the enthusiasm will remain for biogas as a cheap source of energy.

Although the school biogas project seems unique in South Africa, biogas is widely used as an energy source for providing thermal energy in India and other countries in the East. With a little more experience of local applica-tions, and some firmer policy support, perhaps biogas can become a more sustainable competitor for liquid pe-

troleum gas (LPG) for South African domestic use.

� Contact: Elin Oettlé SECCP E-mail:[email protected]

EMN Spring_03 21 10/11/03, 5:57:05 PM


22

ENERGY EVENTS 2003/2004SEPTEMBER 2003

29 – 30

McCloskey’s 2ND ANNUAL EURO-PEAN COAL OUTLOOK CONFER-ENCE, Nice, France

Contact: Informa GroupTel: +44 1932 893 858Fax: +44 1932 893 895E-mail: [email protected]: www.coalevents.com

30 - 1 October

POWER INSTITUTE FOR EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA (PIESA) WORKSHOP “SUS-TAINABLE ELECTRIFICATION – THE AFRICAN CHALLENGE”, Eskom Conference Centre, Mid-rand, South Africa

Contact: The PIESA Secretariat, P.O. Box 1049, Rivonia, 2128, South AfricaFax: +27 11 803 7019E-mail: [email protected]

OCTOBER 2003

6 – 8

41ST INTERNATIONAL PE-TROLEUM CONFERENCE, Bratislavia, Slovak Republic

Tel: +421 2 4055 4278

7 – 8

FIRST ICIS-LOR BASE OILS IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFERENCE, Dubai, UAE

Tel: +44 208 652 3836

7 – 9

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Post-graduate Centre, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Contact: Ms Marina NelTel: (012) 420 5010Fax: (012) 362 5285E-mail: [email protected]

12 – 16

ICCDU V11 – 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CARBON DIOX-IDE UTLISATION, Hoam Convention Centre, Seoul, Korea

Contact: Dr Sang-Eon Park, Secretary – ICCDU V11, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 100 Jang-dong, Yiseong0gu, Daejon, Korea 305-343Fax: +82 42 860 7676Website: www.krict.re.kr/~iccduvii

19 – 21

4TH ANNUAL METERING/ BILLING/ CRM/ CRS AFRICA 2003 – Cairo, Egypt

Contact: Le-Ann Hare Tel: +27 21 700 3500Fax: +27 21 700 3501E-mail: [email protected]

27 – 29

GLOBAL CHANGE AND REGION-AL SUSTAINABILITY, Cape Town, South Africa

E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nrf.ac.za/saeon/globalchange/ saglobal.htm

27 – 30

POWERTRAIN AND FLUID SYS-TEMS CONFERENCE AND EXHI-BITION, Toronto, Canada

Tel: +1 724 772 8517

29 – 31

RENEWABLE ENERGY SUMMIT 2003, Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa

Contact: IQPC, Private Bag X174, Bryanston, 2021, South AfricaTel: (011) 707 9200Fax: (011) 707 9211E-mail: [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2003

3 – 5

MINE WATER – IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING: FROM “TALK TO AC-TION”, Indaba Hotel, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa

Contact: Ms Ammie Wissing, Conference Administrator, Conference Planners, P.O. Box 36782, Menlo Park, South AfricaTel: (012) 348 4493Fax: (012) 348 1563E-mail: [email protected]

5 – 7

WORLD ETHANOL CONFERNCE AND ETHANOL PRODUCTION WORKSHOP, Marriott Grosvenor Square, London, United Kingdom

Contact: Conference Department,

EMN Spring_03 22 10/11/03, 5:57:06 PM


23

F.O. Licht, 80 Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2 UN, United KingdomTel: +44 1892 511 807Fax: +44 1892 527 758E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.agra-net.com

17 – 21

THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL METH-ANE AND NITROUS OXIDE CON-FERENCE, Beijing, China

Website: www.ergweb.com/methane_china/

19 - 21 CITY ENERGY STRATEGIES CON-FERENCE, Cape Town, South Africa

Contact: African Equations Tel: +27 21 461 5735 Fax: +27 21 461 5775 E-Mail: geraldo@africanequations,co,za

24 – 26

SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AS-SESSMENTS, Volkswagen Confer-ence Centre, Midrand, South Africa

Contact: IQPC, Private Bag X174, Bryanston, 2021, South AfricaTel: (011) 707 9200Fax: (011) 707 9211E-mail: [email protected]

DECEMBER 2003

3 – 5

NORTHERN AFRICAN POWER

INDUSTRY CONVENTION (NAPIC) 2003, Tunis, Tunisia

Contact: Andrew EvansTel: +27 21 700 3500Fax: +27 21 700 3501


FEBRUARY 2004

THE UNION OF AFRICAN WATER SUPPLIERS - 12TH BI-ANNUAL AF-RICA CONGRESS, Accra, Ghana

Contact: Mr Dennis Mwanza, Water Utility Partnership (WUP), 05 BP 2642, Abidjan, Cote d’IvoireTel: +225 21 2408 28/ 13Cell: +225 07 0199 01Fax: +225 21 75 8656/7

Visit www.eri.uct.ac.zafor further events and details

EMN Spring_03 23 10/11/03, 5:57:07 PM


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