Western Cape Business 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE
Green technology and manufacturing for the renewable energy market are the focus of the Atlantis Special
Economic Zone. The large blue building is the premises of early investor, wind turbine tower manufacturer GRI
Towers South Africa. Credit: ASEZ
which accounts for nearly 40% of the province’s
export basket. (Agro-processing accounts for 8.1%
of GDP.) Citrus, wine, apples and pears, grapes,
fruit juice, fruit and nuts and tobacco all appear
in the top 10 of the province’s exports. Seventy
percent of South Africa’s beverage exports come
from the Western Cape. Grapes and wine sales to
Europe remain strong, but the Chinese market is
becoming increasingly important.
The province has a diverse manufacturing
sector ranging from textiles, clothing, footwear,
boatbuilding and furniture to coke and refined
petroleum products. Excluding agro-processing,
other manufacturing makes up 6.9% of GDP.
Energy
The province and the City of Cape Town are
lobbying national government for a greater role for
municipalities in the generation and distribution of
energy. The potential of renewable energy is being
realised through the national independent power
producer programme and there is a strong lobby to
build a gas-to-energy plant in the province.
The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape
Provincial Government are investing in resilience.
A market intelligence report covering energy,
renewable energy, water and waste was created
by GreenCape to map the assets and challenges in
these areas.
In addition to trying to attract green
investment into the province, the province is
working for improved regulations related to smallscale
embedded generation (SSEG). Cape Town
also wants to be able to rent out its infrastructure
to a power producer who can supply a user via
that infrastructure.
Much of this work is done by a unit called
the Sustainability Energy Markets within the
Energy Directorate. Another area of focus for
this group is to investigate energy use by lowincome
households.
The Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s
Energy Institute is a leader in research in the
field of electricity. The South African Renewable
Technology Centre (SARETEC) on the Bellville
campus of CPUT offers courses such as Wind
Turbine Service Technician and Solar Photovoltaic
Service Technician and various short courses such
as Bolting Joint Technology.
The Centre for Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Studies is at the University of Stellenbosch
where a new School for Climate Studies has been
launched. The University of Cape Town has the
Energy Research Centre and the University of the
Western Cape is doing research on the possibilities of
hydrogen as an energy source. ■
WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2022
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