OVERVIEWEducation and trainingSolar skills are in short supply.SECTOR INSIGHTAsbestos schools are tobe demolished.The Engineering and Technology Academy has beenlaunched by Gauteng-based consulting engineering firmMed-TechEngineers.The academy is located a few kilometres north of thecompany’s headquarters, with the appropriate address of 1 MarkShuttleworth Street, Innovation Centre, meaning that it forms partof the cluster of knowledge-based enterprises that make up TheInnovation Hub.Officially opened in July 2024, the Engineering and TechnologyAcademy is offering a five-day SAPVIA PV Green Card Trainingcourse, accredited with the industry body, the South AfricanPhotovoltaic Industry Association. The course includes a practicalinstallation day where participants mount a solar system on atraining roof, including cabling and commissioning. The trainingof skills appropriate to renewable energy has not kept pace withthe growth of the sector in South Africa.In 2023 the Gauteng Provincial Government introduced athree-year tertiary bursary for the pupils who finished in the topthree positions in every township school. The provincial budgethas also allocated R6-billion for building new schools while mobileschools and schools made from asbestos will be demolished withthe aid of an allocation from National Treasury.The Schools of Specialisation programme will grow from21 schools to 35 schools in the short term. The SoshanguveEngineering School of Specialisation, which has a focus onautomotive skills, is an example of schools where there is aparticular emphasis on one sector.Three of South Africa’s top five business schools are in Gauteng:the Wits Business School, the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s )ONLINE RESOURCESGauteng Department of Education: www.education.gpg.gov.zaNational Research Foundation: www.nrf.ac.zaSouth African Photovoltaic Industry Association: www.sapvia.co.zaGraduate School of BusinessLeadership and the GordonInstitute of Business Science,on the Sandton campus of theUniversity of Pretoria.Eighty percent of the 1 230lecturers and researchers at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand(Wits) have post-graduatedegrees, and 27 A-rated scientistswork there. The university offersstudies in more than 40 schoolsin five faculties.The popular annual TUKSRobot Race Day has earned theUniversity of Pretoria a reputationfor making technology accessible.In 2022 the university went a stepfurther with the launch of theRobot and Sensor School.While the Race Day islimited to third-year students,the new school aims toexpose schoolchildren toconcepts that go into creatinga robot such as CAD design,programming and 3D printing.Several university departmentsare involved in the projectin which students from theEngineering, Built Environmentand IT faculty give up theirtime to create the hardwareand present modules to courseparticipants. The programme issupported by RS South Africa,a supplier of industrial andelectronic products. ■GAUTENG BUSINESS 202536PHOTO: Soutpan Solar
ICTGauteng data centres to be powered by Free State sun.OVERVIEWSECTOR INSIGHTeKasiLabs supportsentrepreneurs.Africa Data Centres, with large and expanding facilities inJohannesburg and Cape Town, has become the latest datacentre company to construct a solar farm in order to securea reliable source of power.A 20-year power-purchase agreement has been signed with DPASouthern Africa, a joint company of Distributed Power Africa and theFrench utility, EDF. The first 12MW will be delivered from a solar farmnear Bloemfontein in the Free State.Africa Data Centres is part of the Cassava Technologies group ofcompanies which has built a 73 000km fibre network across Africa. Thecompany’s first data centre in Midrand, pictured, is being consistentlyexpanded, with the first phase of growth delivering an additional 20MWwith another 10MW additional capacity planned for the end of 2025.The biggest data centre on African soil is under construction inEkurhuleni. Teraco Data Environments secured a R2.5-billion loan tobuild the 50 000m² JB4 data centre on 6ha. The company alreadyruns four data centres and a teleport on four campuses. The new30MW facility, JB5, will join JB1 and JB3 on the Isando Campus.With several other global companies choosing to station theirSouth African headquarters in Gauteng, the province is well connected.Johannesburg is also one of two South African cities to host aMicrosoft Azure data centre.A Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) subsidiary,The Innovation Hub, has a programme called eKasiLabs whichsupports entrepreneurs and young people with good business ideas.One of the provincial government’s stated goals is to get severalICT initiatives to work together. If the work of The Innovation Hub,ONLINE RESOURCESeKasiLabs: www.theinnovationhub.comIndependent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.zaTechnology Innovation Agency: www.tia.org.zaseveral eKasi laboratories,the Tshimologong precinct,universities and researchinstitutes could be integrated,a more powerful ecosystemwould be the result.A High-Tech SpecialEconomic Zone (SEZ) is anotheridea that is being pursued.Making broadband connectivityand free WiFi available to poorhouseholds in the provinceis another task. A DigitalTransformation Advisory Panel isdriving these initiatives.Various large spatial plansfor the province include anelement whereby these newcities or settlements will be builtas “smart cities”.The Council for Scientificand Industrial Research (CSIR) inPretoria hosts a new body aimedat preparing South Africa for theFourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),the South African Affiliate Centreof the World Economic Forum.The “Tshepo 1 Million”campaign links the provincialgovernment with the successfulHarambee Youth EmploymentAccelerator and more than 40large companies.Both Johannesburg andTshwane have free WiFi networkswith Tshwane providing 1GBof data every day to its citizensat various TshWi-Fi locations, atspeeds up to 15Mbps. ■PHOTO: Africa Data Centres 37GAUTENG BUSINESS 2025
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