CEO Voice

CEO Voice – August 2021

Dear Members,

Whilst the industry is in the throes of finalising REIPPPP BW5 submissions, which are due soon (16 August 2021), we are reminded of the role that women play in our industry.  In fact, many teams, working on these submissions will include pioneering women who are striving to help make our industry better, larger, more transformative, and more resilient than ever.  These women lead Development, Finance, HR, Economic Development and other key roles across the value chain.

So, we’d like to take the opportunity, to thank and honour women in our industry, as we join the rest of the country in celebrating Women’s Month. Looking to the SAWEA board, which is led by our Chair, Mercia Grimbeek, we are thankful to another five women board members, who help guide and serve our Association and the industry at large. Similarly, SAWEA’s staff has a resounding 90% women contingent.

We will be honouring and sharing news on our various social media platforms this month, showcasing gender-based opinions and achievements. This includes leadership comment, industry data, funding and development. In addition to our social media campaign, we will also be hosting a Women’s Month panel discussion around gender diversity, hosted by our Gender Diversity Working Group – see details below in the Events section.

This month’s ‘Developing the Local RE Value Chain’ webinar series, is focused on business prospects for transportation and logistics companies in our sector, which forms a substantial part of the value chain and will become increasing important and we embark into a period of exponential growth, so please be sure to join us on 19 August.

I wish you all a safe and successful month ahead.

Kind regards,
Ntombifuthi Ntuli: CEO, South African Wind Energy Association

CEO Voice – June 2021

Dear Members,

As youth month is drawing to a close, I would like to thank all the young people that participated in our June campaign where we were highlighting the importance of youth in our sector. SAWEA take youth development seriously and places significance on the development of young people as they are the future leaders of the sector. We had more than 15 young people featured in our campaign highlighting the role of youth in the growing renewable energy sector.READ MORE

CEO Voice May 2021

Dear Members,

I trust you’re well and staying safe as we see that CV-19 numbers are starting to rise again.

It’s been encouraging to see reassuring statements from government regarding future procurement plans. Earlier this month, in his Budget Vote speech, Minister Mantashe announced the Department’s procurement plans for the next 8 months, as follows: READ MORE

CEO Voice April 2021

Dear Members,

We have started strengthening our communication messaging around the environmental and climate benefits of wind power. This aligns with leading wind energy corporates and associations around the world, in a campaign led by GWEC termed, Global Wind Energy Coalition for COP26. READ MORE

CEO Voice: March 2021

Dear Members,

I trust you had a good and safe Easter break. March has been an exciting month for the wind energy sector. The Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy  announced preferred bidders for the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme and announced the issuing of Bid Window 5. I would like to congratulate our members, EDF Renewables and G7 Renewable Energies, for being selected as preferred bidders for their hybrid projects which include wind power. These projects are making history as it is the first time in South Africa that we have wind, solar & battery storage combined in hybrid projects to provide dispatchable capacity.READ MORE

CEO Voice: February 2021

Dear Members,

#10Yrs – Celebrating a Decade of Wind Power in South Africa.

Having launched this theme at #Windaba2020, ‘10 years and Beyond: Wind Energy Leading two Decades of Energy Transition’, we will commemorate this milestone with our PR campaign, with the hashtag ‘#10Yrs’ addressing topical issues, and highlighting the achievement of the sector in areas such as Socio-economic Development, Environmental Impact, Youth Empowerment (employment, scholarships, professional development, etc), local value chain development as well as Gender Diversity.

Our Gender Diversity WG has been successfully launched, having drawn an abundant uptake, for which I would like to thank all members who have supported and participated in our inaugural meeting. We have set ourselves objectives to focus on the following programmes:

• Coaching and Mentorship – we will be launching a mentorship programme in partnership with WE Connect
• Women in Wind – Leadership Acceleration Programme – in partnership with Business Schools and Industry
• Gender Diversity Performance Reporting
• Business Opportunities for Women
• Dialogues and Events
• Recognition – Windaba Awards

I’m really hoping that our strategic focus on Gender Diversity this year will derive a lot of benefit for the sector and set a foundation for future programmes and address transformation challenges that the sector may be dealing with.

Another exciting development is that we have now officially launched the Legal Working Group, which will serve as a collaboration platform for legal professionals to discuss common challenges (be it legal or legislative) with the view of unblocking these sector wide challenges from a legal perspective.

And last, but not least, I’d like to reflect on President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address earlier this month. It was encouraging to hear that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy will soon be announcing the successful bids for 2 000 megawatts of emergency power, and the fact that two renewable energy bidding windows will be announced in 2021 starting with 2 600 MW from wind and solar energy as part of Bid Window 5, expected in the coming weeks. Although we anticipated BW5 in Q1 2021, it is great to know that it’s one of the immediate priorities of government.

Kind Regards,
Ntombifuthi Ntuli
CEO (SAWEA)

CEO Voice: January 2021

Dear Members,

I would like to welcome you all to yet another exciting wind energy year. It is my hope that you had a pleasant and restful holiday with the opportunity to spend time with friends and family. READ MORE

CEO Voice: December 2020

Dear Members,

As we approach the end of 2020, it is time to reflect on the milestones achieved and efforts made to unite, promote and grow the wind energy sector in South Africa. The year started with our advocacy in full swing and the with a strong PR campaign, while we were making plans to develop our Advocacy and Lobbying Strategy. We have also taken strides to strengthen our stakeholder relations, as we have been reporting throughout the year.READ MORE

CEO Voice: October 2020

Dear Members,

We hosted the first ever virtual Windaba Conference this month, coinciding with a string of  significant progress on the policy changes.

Just weeks after the Ministerial Determination for procurement of renewables and other technologies was gazetted, the Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy announced during the debate on Economic Recovery Plan, that the Bid Window 5 for the REIPPPP will be issued in December 2020. That is certainly something to look forward to. READ MORE

CEO Voice: September 2020

Dear Members,

As the country is going through the continuous energy crisis it seems that government is beginning to move towards closing the electricity supply capacity gap. The long-awaited Ministerial Determination was gazetted this month, which is great news as it brings us a step closer to procurement of new generation capacity. We have heard a couple of times from the IPP Office that the Round 5 of REIPPPP RFP should be expected in the first quarter of 2021, and that they have sufficient capacity to handle both the RMIPPPP and the REIPPPP.READ MORE