Focus

The annual Windaba Conference on November 7-8th attracted OEMs, IPPs, sub-contractors, regulators and governing bodies of entire Wind industry. The industry takes this platform to show case their products and services, allowing for great networking that goes beyond the South African wind energy market.  Goldwind Africa participated as an annual Gold Sponsor of this event for the 7th year.

The event comprised of CEO Dinner, exhibition visits and panel discussions. Goldwind Africa has taken the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion around creating green jobs and supporting local manufacturing. Goldwind was tasked to share international experiences about localisation.

Key discussions of this conference were the timeline for Round 5 bidding. Minister of Energy, Mr. Jeff Radebe sent his secretary to deliver a speech, which outlined that there will be a Round 5 bidding in 1Q, 2019. Earlier time the government also released IRP2018 which said there will be around 400-800MW each year until 2030 for the wind industry. SAWEA also mentioned that to reduce the tariff under 50 cents Rand per kWh is the target for the coming Round 5, considering the technology development in the past years.

Goldwind has started to explore South African market since 2011 with two projects totally of 152.5MW order backlog. Through this event, Goldwind introduced the latest 3S platform and wind power solutions to African clients.

Taking South Africa as the regional centre, Goldwind seeks to bring more cheaper and cleaner energy to Africa continent.