Energy launches high-resolution wind resource map at Wind Atlas for South Africa Seminar in East London, 10 Apr

The WASA 2 Seminar is hosted by the DoE in partnership with the SANEDI (South African National Energy Development Institute), Royal Danish Embassy, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in East London, Eastern Cape Province.

The WASA 2 Seminar aims at reflecting on a 10 year period since the SAWEP project started. WASA 2 is a component of the second phase of the South African Wind Energy Programme (SAWEP 2) funded by the Global Environment Facility through UNDP South African country office.

Through the implementation of SAWEP, South Africa has established critical and quality wind measurement infrastructure in some provinces. WASA 1, which has nine (9) wind measurement stations commenced in June 2009 and completed in April 2014 with a focus on Western Cape and parts of Eastern Cape and Northern Cape Provinces.

The WASA 2 study area which has five (5) measurement stations started in March 2013, focused on the remaining parts of the Eastern Cape Province and was extended to include KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State Provinces. WASA 2 was completed in 2018.

As a consequence, at least four (4) additional measurement stations were erected in beginning of September 2018 in the Northern Cape Province under WASA 3. The measurements results of WASA 1-3, which cover an estimated 75% of South Africa’s land cover will be used to extrapolate the prevailing wind conditions for the rest of South Africa. Effectively, WASA 1, 2, and 3 constitute the building blocks of the South African wind atlas. It is through these research efforts and evidenced based results that policy formulation and implementation notwithstanding investment planning that key decisions are informed.

Mr Ompi Aphane, Acting Director-General will deliver the keynote address and launch the WASA High-Resolution Wind Resource Map at the Wind Atlas for South Africa 2 (WASA 2). The WASA 2 Seminar will also include addresses by Mr Jørgen Erik Larse, Counsellor – Water, Energy, Research and Innovation at the Embassy of Denmark in South Africa and UNDP Resident Representative Mr Walid Badawi.

Since the seminar coincides with the ten-year-anniversary of the WASA project, it is an opportune time to celebrate the ground-breaking achievements of the project over the years. It will culminate with the launch of the High Resolution Wind Energy Resource Map. Additional WASA 2 Seminar topics include results from WASA 2, application and introduction to WASA 3.

Media are invited to attend the seminar as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 10 April 2019
Time: 9h30 – 16h00
Venue: East London International Convention Centre (EICC)

The WASA constitutes one of the most critical elements of South Africa’s renewable energy efforts and enables the country to contribute to the Global Renewable Energy Atlas led by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

 Thanks to WASA, the country has developed an excellent wind resource assessment capability at key public institutions, namely CSIR, South African Weather Services and the University of Cape Town, which allows for the planning of large-scale exploitation of wind power.

For enquiries and rsvp, please contact:
Sasha Endemann
Tel: 011 484 7663
Cell: 082 805 6302
E-mail: sasha@lithacommunications.co.za / mediadesk@energy.gov.za