Programme Director,
Mayor of City of Cape Town
SolarPaces Chairperson
International Energy Agency Secretariat
International Research Community
Colleagues from Industry and Academia
Government officials
Ladies and Gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to be part of this historic event. Just shortly after concluding the South African International Renewable Energy Conference which was hosted for the first time in the African continent, we are today hosting for the second time in Africa, the SolarPaces conference.
Our resolve as the people of South Africa to be amongst the best developing economies of the 21st century is unquestionable and remains the key driver behind positioning this country in the forefront of clean energy technology solution development.
The National Development Plan calls for action to increase levels of energy security, by improving country’s energy infrastructure. The NDP states that at least 20 000MW of the planned new generation capacity will be coming from renewable energy. The Integrated Resource Plan of 2010, also indicates that 9 400 MW is expected to come from solar energy by 2030.
This clear policy shift is an indication of the culture government is inculcating to ensure South Africans embraces a cleaner energy system. However, this opportunity to redesign the energy infrastructure presents an opportunity of transforming into knowledge based economy with an improved technology balance of payments.
In order to realise this, South Africa has to strengthen her National System of Innovation to support economic development more especially in identified priority sectors which includes mineral beneficiation, revitalising industrialisation and supporting exporting sectors. This innovation led economic growth, include amongst others dealing decisively with the “Innovation Chasm”. In simple terms dealing with aspects that causes the bridge between the laboratory and the commercial world.
In dealing with the Innovation Chasm, South Africa is ensuring that the following are addressed:
(a) Skills:- Developing the requisite Skills to ensure that the ideas may be turned
into products.
(b) Funding:- Ensuring that appropriate funding instruments are in place to
support ideas throughout the value chain.
(c) Culture:- promoting a culture that embraces new ideas and products.
I would like to first elaborate government response to the challenges of the Innovation Chasm starting with the three points I have just mentioned above (skills, funding and culture).
On the skills issue, through funding provided via instruments like the National Research Foundation the country is developing the skilled/knowledge workers that can generate new ideas and knowledge. The NRF budget to date stands at about R2,5 billion per annum and a significant portion goes towards Human Capital Development initiatives. The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHi) and the Centres of Excellence initiative are establishing a number of these instruments to deal with the development of new knowledge and requisite skills.
In order to ensure efficient funding and stimulating the gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in the solar research space, theDST has finalised the Solar Energy Technology Roadmap (SETRM). The solar technology roadmap seeks to use the current opportunity of improving energy security and energy access to develop local capabilities in engineering, research and industries (both upstream and downstream).
In this regard the technology roadmap identifies three main objectives that will assist to improving energy security, reducing the cost of energy, improving energy access, promoting local manufacturing, diversifying supply energy sources and minimise emissions from the energy sector. The proposed interventions have been clustered into five thematic areas discussed herewith below.
Strategic Planning– ensuring that the energy planning processes (Integrated Energy Planning and Integrated Resource Plan) are guided by scientific based evidence when making allocating the contributions from different energy sources.
Systems Integration – the systems integration will through both modelling and actual field testing assist in defining the future architecture of the energy systems at different levels (municipality, national and regional). The main focus will be to ensure intermittent solar energy meets the energy demand through a combination and harmonisation of energy technologies (concentrated solar power, energy storage and photovoltaic technology). The energy generated may be coming from distributed generation whose locations are informed by credible solar resource quantification and seamlessly integrated using appropriate tools.
Solar thermal – the focus will be on investigating cost reducing options for solar thermal technology solutions by leveraging South Africa’s industrial comparative advantage. The proposed interventions include augmentation of the ageing coal fired stations to prolong the economic lifespan of the current fleet by potentially replacing the boiler plants with solar thermal energy.
Solar Photovoltaic– The late generation technologies specifically CIGS thin films will be supported towards full commercialisation and support continuous research to close the gap between lab and field efficiency levels.
Industry Stimulation– evaluation of the value chains for opportunities (upstream and downstream) to guide required support to align the manufacturing sector (steel, glass, chemicals etc). The second component would be to improve the industry’s competitiveness by adopting less carbon intense production processes and self generation to manage power reliability that affects production schedules.
Lastly on the issue of culture, we are driving the culture of ensuring in strategic partnership with the international community, SA is a research hub and her economic sectors provide an environment for seamless adoption of the innovation outputs. In this regard the DST commissioned feasibility analysis of the High Temperature Applications (HTA) in replacing or complementing energy process (steam/process heat in chemical, iron and steel industries) which are currently heavily dependent on fossil based fuels. The methodology and some of the outcomes are to be shared later with you during this conference.
We are also finalizing the Infrastructure Roadmap which amongst other things is investigating the establishment of a national research facility in the solar rich parts of the country. This facility will be used for both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies working in collaboration with industry and academia. The Helio 100 that delegates will be visiting is a clear indication and signal of SA having starting to embark on this journey.
In a nutshell, I would like to indicate that we are ready as South Africa to be part and the knowledge generating base to move solar energy solutions to effectively respond to the needs of the economic sectors.
Let me take the opportunity to thank the organising team, the international world for their confidence in SA to be part of this historic conference.
May you have fruitful deliberations over the duration of the SolarPaces 2015.
Thank you!
