The renewable energy and sustainability prize is inviting entries from companies, individuals, organisations and high schools prior to the deadline of 16 July 2012, and there is a loud call for all African countries to participate.
Last month (April 10, 2012), the Minister of Energy, Hon Dipuo Peters, met with a delegation from Business Unity South Africa (BUSA). The meeting was held at the request of BUSA, and Theo Covary, SESSA’s acting-CEO, represented the Society.
SESSA has a new Council as well as new executives on its divisional committees. Announced at the Annual General Meeting in March this year, both Council and division executives serve for a period of two years.
Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, Minister of Energy, has confirmed her participation at Green Power Conferences’ 2nd Annual Solar South Africa conference, being held this June.
Solar water heating systems – one at an old age home and the other at an orphanage – went live in March this year thanks to the initiative of SESSA member Holms and Friends and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).
Two locally developed biogas digesters – the one capable of producing enough biogas every day to keep a single gas plate burning for 4 hours – have earned their inventor second place in the SA Cleantech Competition.
SESSA member Holms and Friends, formerly Omnibus Engineering, has installed a solar water heating system at the University of Pretoria (UP) which – with a total 672m2 collector surface – is the biggest glazed installation in Southern Africa.
A SESSA member’s corporate social outreach programme is delivering hot water and electricity savings to two underprivileged communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal.Renu Solar, a division of Renu Holdings, focuses on providing renewable and sustainable energy solutions and is working with the Ingane Yami Children’s Village in Shongweni and the Lungisasa Indlela Village (LIV) in Verulam to reduce their reliance on the grid.
South Africa’s architects, engineers and building contractors must step up to the ‘green’ building plate if the country is to have any chance of realising the energy saving reductions fielded by President Zuma in 2009.
The South African Insurance Association (SAIA) has announced that the short-term insurance industry is in the process of investigating whether or not it can create a value proposition and an acceptable practice for the replacement of electrical geysers by energy efficient alternatives.
South African renewable energy pioneer, Professor Dieter Holm, has been named as an honorary board member of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) in recognition of his efforts to profile the country’s needs and causes within the global energy community.
The Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA) has welcomed Government’s allocation of R4.7-billion to the solar water heater campaign, as confirmed by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his budget speech last week (February 22).
South Africa is one of the best located regions for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) with some of the highest levels of Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) in the world. The Northern Cape region of the country experiences levels of more than 2 900 kWh/m2, significantly more than some of the other CSP hot spots such as Spain and Southern California in the USA and the Department of Energy's (DoE) Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) allows for 1 GW of CSP of a total of 18 GW to be delivered from renewables by 2030.
Harald Schulz, a member of the Sustainable Energy Society of South Africa (SESSA), portfolio holder of Young SESSA and CEO of Suntoy, has developed the Consol Solar Jar with Consol Glass.
The Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA) has appointed a CEO to streamline the society’s day-to-day operations to give focus to its activities.
Mechanical and mechatronic engineering specialist, Professor Wikus van Niekerk of Stellenbosch University, has been elected as the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa’s (SESSA) representative on the board of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES).
SESSA member, Selected Energy, has installed solar energy systems at two South African schools: in Bloemfontein, some 26 solar water heaters expected to pay for themselves within three years were installed at the Martie du Plessis School for Grade R to Grade 12 special needs students while a 300-litre Solahart solar water heater was donated to the Save the Children (SCF) centre in Tjakastad, Mpumalanga.
Four leading renewable energy associations today announced their intention to launch an umbrella body to act as a single voice championing the importance and relevance of the Renewable Energy Industry in South Africa. The announcement comes in the wake of the Green Economy Accord recently concluded through a series of engagements amongst Government, Business, Labour and Community at Nedlac.
SESSA member Dr Anthony Keen of Cape Town has been named – for the second time – as the winner of the Energy Savings in Households category at the 2011 eta Awards.
