SPECIAL FEATURE Green
SPECIAL FEATURE Green technology and manufacturing for the renewable energy market are the focus of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone. The large blue building is the premises of early investor, wind turbine tower manufacturer GRI Towers South Africa. Credit: ASEZ which accounts for nearly 40% of the province’s export basket. (Agro-processing accounts for 8.1% of GDP.) Citrus, wine, apples and pears, grapes, fruit juice, fruit and nuts and tobacco all appear in the top 10 of the province’s exports. Seventy percent of South Africa’s beverage exports come from the Western Cape. Grapes and wine sales to Europe remain strong, but the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important. The province has a diverse manufacturing sector ranging from textiles, clothing, footwear, boatbuilding and furniture to coke and refined petroleum products. Excluding agro-processing, other manufacturing makes up 6.9% of GDP. Energy The province and the City of Cape Town are lobbying national government for a greater role for municipalities in the generation and distribution of energy. The potential of renewable energy is being realised through the national independent power producer programme and there is a strong lobby to build a gas-to-energy plant in the province. The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Government are investing in resilience. A market intelligence report covering energy, renewable energy, water and waste was created by GreenCape to map the assets and challenges in these areas. In addition to trying to attract green investment into the province, the province is working for improved regulations related to smallscale embedded generation (SSEG). Cape Town also wants to be able to rent out its infrastructure to a power producer who can supply a user via that infrastructure. Much of this work is done by a unit called the Sustainability Energy Markets within the Energy Directorate. Another area of focus for this group is to investigate energy use by lowincome households. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Energy Institute is a leader in research in the field of electricity. The South African Renewable Technology Centre (SARETEC) on the Bellville campus of CPUT offers courses such as Wind Turbine Service Technician and Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician and various short courses such as Bolting Joint Technology. The Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies is at the University of Stellenbosch where a new School for Climate Studies has been launched. The University of Cape Town has the Energy Research Centre and the University of the Western Cape is doing research on the possibilities of hydrogen as an energy source. ■ WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2022 8
