OVERVIEWEnergyStudents
OVERVIEWEnergyStudents are learning renewable skills.Asix-month internship with Enel Green Power SouthAfrica has bolstered the employment chances of 10Mpumalanga college graduates.Four of Enel’s solar farms hosted the female graduates,pictured, of Nkangala Technical Vocational Education and Training(TVET) College in a partnership that also included RES4AfricaFoundation and the Energy and Water Sector Education and TrainingAuthority (EWSETA). The programme is designed to reskill andequip young people for entry into the renewable-energy sector.Nkangala TVET College, which is in close proximity to therecently decommissioned Komati Power Station, was chosento pilot the college-based part of the project. Students wereprovided with skills training across three renewables-focusedprogrammes, including the South Africa Photovoltaic IndustryAssociation (SAPVIA)-accredited Rooftop PV installation; QualityCouncil For Trades & Occupations (QCTO) Energy PerformanceCertificate Practitioner L5 certification; and National QualificationsFramework (NQF) modules 2 and 3 in Electrical Engineering fromthe EWSETA.Wind resourcesWhile Mpumalanga has long been known as the coal province,renewable energy resources have been explored and found tobe plentiful.ENERTRAG South Africa, in the course of its research intoMpumalanga as a site for wind energy, found that the currentenvironment is creating an active off-takers market among EnergySECTOR INSIGHTGentle winds are blowingpower to the province.Intensive Users (EIUs) andno place is better equippedto service that market andto facilitate wheeling thanthe Mpumalanga province,Emalahleni in particular.Seriti Green is acting onthis information and its ownresearch to build a renewablehybrid facility, UmmbilaEmoyeni. Starting with 150MWof wind power, it will grow toencompass a further 600MWof wind, 100MW solar and800MW hours of battery.The entire project has beendesignated as a StrategicIntegrated Project by theDepartment of Public Worksand Infrastructure.The wind that blows inMpumalanga is somewhatdifferent to that experienced inthe coastal provinces. Havingpointed out that the windtends to blow somewhat higherabove ground (necessitatinghigher towers), Peter Venn, CEOof Seriti Green, adds that “it ismuch more benign” than Capewinds, allowing for less robustturbines. Local authorities havebeen “fully behind the project”since ground was broken,with monthly coordinationmeetings being held. SaysVenn, “We have over 400 localpeople employed on site atthe moment.”Seriti Green is also in theearly development phase of a1.3GW project called PhefumulaMPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2025/2648PHOTO: Enel
OVERVIEWEmoyeni, which is adjacent toUmmbila Emoyeni.All of the initial powergenerated by Seriti Green will beconsumed by Seriti Resources’mines, but the concept ofwheeling is taking off fast inSouth Africa. Three 110MW windfarms being constructed near StFrancis Bay in the Eastern Capewill supply energy to Sasol andAir Liquide in Mpumalanga.Enel Green Power and Red Cap are building the R9-billion Impofuproject. Amazon is having power wheeled to its facilities from ablock of wind farms in Kenhardt in the Northern Cape.In the most recent round of bidding for projects in the RenewableEnergy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme(REIPPPP), the Northern Cape received fewer projects than itotherwise would have if the national grid was keeping up withincreased generation potential of new projects. This givesMpumalanga a comparative advantage.With most of South Africa’s power stations located inMpumalanga, the issue of grid capacity does not arise. Eskom wasone of the first entities to react to this opportunity to build newer,greener facilities. In July 2022, Eskom announced 18 winning bidsfrom independent power producers (IPPs) for renewable projectson Eskom land, 4 000ha of which the utility has made available forthis first phase. Eskom owns 36 000ha in the province. A total of1 800MW will become available to the grid and it will be cheaperto transmit because the solar or wind plants will be right next tothe existing Eskom transmission lines.According to the Presidential Climate Commission, the pipelineof REIPPPP projects stood at R377-billion in June 2024. Applicationsfor the development of 4.5GW were received in 2023, sharply upfrom the two previous years, 135MW (2021) and 1.6GW (2022). Theestablishment of a one-stop shop to deal with registering projectsis part of the reason for the expansion of potential new capacity.The relaxation by national government of the rules regardingsetting up a power plant of 100MW or less is well suited to therequirements of big timber-processing companies such as SappiONLINE RESOURCESUmmbila Emoyeni is under construction.Presidential Climate Commission: www.climatecommission.org.zaSouth African Independent Power Producers Association:www.saippa.org.zaSouth African Wind Energy Association: www.sawea.organd PG Bison and all the largemining concerns that areactive in Mpumalanga.The second phase of theStrategic EnvironmentalAssessment (SEA) for wind andsolar photovoltaic (PV) energyin South Africa proposes threeadditional Renewable EnergyDevelopment Zones (REDZs)for wind and solar photovoltaicenergy projects, taking thetotal number to 11. In 2021,Emalahleni became the latestREDZ to be gazetted. Previouslyknown as Witbank, the town isat the centre of the province’scoal-mining district.The decommissioning of theCamden, Grootvlei, Hendrinaand Kriel power stations (allin Mpumalanga) has beendelayed until 2030 but with80 000 jobs dependent on coalmining across South Africa, theneed to try to ensure a “JustTransition” is a very real one.Options to get these plantsproducing energy again includegas, biomass and hydrogenbut it is possible they mightbe used for something quitedifferent. National utilityEskom wants to be a net-zerocompany by 2050. ■PHOTO: Seriti Green49 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2025/26
