Green shoots may see lost Atlantis rise again
Government drive aims to make town a renewable energy hub
WHEN Jodi Oransie walks through the industrial zone of Atlantis, 40km north of Cape Town’s CBD, she sees two types of factories.
Some are boarded up, their security huts empty, outdoor machinery rusting. Others, like iSolar, where Oransie helps make solar water heaters, are hives of activity where green technology is breathing life back into this “lost city”.
It is part of a government drive to establish the town as a special economic zone, where tax incentives will make it a one-stop shop for green technology and renewable energy.
Already being manufactured are wind turbines, LED lights, solar panels . . . all symbols of a greener future for the country.
The Western Cape government, the City of Cape Town, and the Department of Trade and Industry are working together on the project. Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said: “Since the establishment of the incentives, 16 new companies have opened their doors, creating 854 new jobs, while five have expanded their operations, creating 20 new jobs.”
It was estimated that more than 1 500 jobs had been retained by existing businesses taking up incentives, she said.
Oransie, 21, like many others in the new industry, once had no prospect of work. Hundreds of people were laid off in Atlantis when the once-booming textile industry collapsed. Other industries shut their doors after the recession of 2008.
“I have been working here as an intern for two months,” said A FOREST of wind turbines is about to sprout across the barren desert landscape of the Northern Cape.
Eleven more farms are lining up to emulate the province’s only fully operational wind farm, Noblesfontein at Victoria West, as part of the Department of Energy’s renewable energy independent procurement programme.
This could translate into 1.5 gigawatts of electricity and hundreds of hi-tech windmills, including a 200-turbine farm near the Karoo dorpie of Sutherland and its Southern African Large Telescope.
The 10 turbines South Africa SHINING: Jodi Oransie works for a solar panel maker Oransie, who lives a few kilometres away in a small house with eight relatives. “I am really enjoying getting so much experience.”
Her neighbour and fellow factory worker, Angelique Smith, 25, spent four years “sitting at home”, unable to find work. “In had in 2011 have grown to 500 on 13 wind farms, feeding 953MW of electricity into the grid.
Hendrik Reyneke, board member of the South African Wind Energy Association, said that until recently people assumed good wind was found only at the coast, and “looked funny at you when you told them there’s wind in the Northern Cape”.
These perceptions are debunked by research published last month by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research showing that more than 80% of South Africa’s land mass is windy enough for favourable rates of energy production.
“Not many countries see such excellent wind resources in BETTER RAP: Jodi Oransie, left, and Babalwa Dyantyi wrap products at a factory in the Atlantis special economic zone HOMEGROWN: Solar geyseres on roofs in Atlantis on the West Coast — made in the town itself Atlantis we see drugs, gangsterism, alcohol abuse. The skills and experience we are getting are very useful for us.”
Investment totalling R680million has flowed in, and an estimated R1-billion will follow over the next five years.
Some big international players such wide areas,” said Tobias Bischof-Niemz, head of the CSIR’s Energy Centre.
Eskom now allows developers to build their own transmission infrastructure, making wind farms in the Northern Cape even more cost-effective and efficient, said Reyneke.
His company, Mainstream Renewable Power, has proposed three wind farms near Sutherland with a total output of up to 1 137MW.
If the project gets the goahead, it will join the Karusa, Roggeveld and Soetwater wind farms already planned near the town.
Astronomers at the Southern African Large Telescope are advising developers and watching have arrived, including a Spanish wind turbine factory and a Dutch company that makes ladders and platforms for the turbines.
A key partner is GreenCape. Its skills development practitioner, Ursula Jordaan, said: “We want to develop skills in Atlantis . . . Our ultimate aspiration is to see the Western Cape established as the green economic hub of Africa.”
Another key partner is the South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator, which equips energy entrepreneurs with business skills.
However, some of the newly employed say they are not sure the R2 500 a month they earn is sustainable. Piles of litter gather on the open lots outside community toilets, undermining the idea of a “green” town. The “blokke” (tenements) remain a hotbed of gangsterism. the flurry of development with some trepidation. The construction and operation of turbines could cause dust and light pollution that could interfere with the telescope’s stargazing activities, said Ramotholo Sefako, head of telescope operations at the South African Astronomical Observatory.
But there was no antagonism between developers and astronomers, who “appreciate the need to develop renewable energy”, said Sefako. “In the discussions we’ve had, both sides are willing to see a win-win situation rather than a win-lose situation. But until everything is in place, we’ll never know if the measures we’ve suggested will be implemented.”