South Africa has a proposed station situated on the West Coast north of the Olifants River mouth near the town of Koekenaap, east of Vredendal in the Western Cape province. The station is proposed to have a total output of 100MW although there are negotiations to double this capacity. The plant could be operational by 2010.
www.shopwestcoast.co.za
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
How Wind Turbines Work, Darling West Coast
Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetation. Humans use this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity.
The terms wind energy or wind power describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity.
So how do wind turbines make electricity? Simply stated, a wind turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, wind turbines use wind to make electricity. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity. Take a look inside a wind turbine to see the various parts. View the wind turbine animation to see how a wind turbine works.
This aerial view of a wind power plant shows how a group of wind turbines can make electricity for the utility grid. The electricity is sent through transmission and distribution lines to homes, businesses, schools, and so on.
Learn more about wind energy technology:
Many wind farms have sprung up in the Midwest in recent years, generating power for utilities. Farmers benefit by receiving land lease payments from wind energy project developers.
Types of Wind Turbines
Modern wind turbines fall into two basic groups: the horizontal-axis variety, as shown in the photo, and the vertical-axis design, like the eggbeater-style Darrieus model, named after its French inventor.
Horizontal-axis wind turbines typically either have two or three blades. These three-bladed wind turbines are operated "upwind," with the blades facing into the wind.
GE Wind Energy's 3.6 megawatt wind turbine is one of the largest prototypes ever erected. Larger wind turbines are more efficient and cost effective.
Sizes of Wind Turbines
Utility-scale turbines range in size from 100 kilowatts to as large as several megawatts. Larger turbines are grouped together into wind farms, which provide bulk power to the electrical grid.
Single small turbines, below 100 kilowatts, are used for homes, telecommunications dishes, or water pumping. Small turbines are sometimes used in connection with diesel generators, batteries, and photovoltaic systems. These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically used in remote, off-grid locations, where a connection to the utility grid is not available.
Inside the Wind Turbine
- Anemometer:
- Measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.
- Blades:
- Most turbines have either two or three blades. Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to "lift" and rotate.
- Brake:
- A disc brake, which can be applied mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to stop the rotor in emergencies.
- Controller:
- The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph) and shuts off the machine at about 55 mph. Turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 mph because they might be damaged by the high winds.
- Gear box:
- Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about 30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most generators to produce electricity. The gear box is a costly (and heavy) part of the wind turbine and engineers are exploring "direct-drive" generators that operate at lower rotational speeds and don't need gear boxes.
- Generator:
- Usually an off-the-shelf induction generator that produces 60-cycle AC electricity.
- High-speed shaft:
- Drives the generator.
- Low-speed shaft:
- The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute.
- Nacelle:
- The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, controller, and brake. Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to land on.
- Pitch:
- Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed and keep the rotor from turning in winds that are too high or too low to produce electricity.
- Rotor:
- The blades and the hub together are called the rotor.
- Tower:
- Towers are made from tubular steel (shown here), concrete, or steel lattice. Because wind speed increases with height, taller towers enable turbines to capture more energy and generate more electricity.
- Wind direction:
- This is an "upwind" turbine, so-called because it operates facing into the wind. Other turbines are designed to run "downwind," facing away from the wind.
- Wind vane:
- Measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.
- Yaw drive:
- Upwind turbines face into the wind; the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the wind direction changes. Downwind turbines don't require a yaw drive, the wind blows the rotor downwind.
- Yaw motor:
- Powers the yaw drive.
I borrowed this information from the Americans energy website, it makes interesting reading seems we have a few windmills of our own on the West Coast in Darling
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Marine Living Resources on the West Coast.
Before 1994, there was no formal space for poor fishers to access marine resources, so they used recreational permits to fish in open access areas. The fisheries sector has been industrialised since the early 1900s and resources are fully utilised, which means reallocation of fishing access rights are contested.
The ANC came to power on the election promises it made in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. This document was an integrated, coherent socioeconomic framework for dealing with the consequences of apartheid, including the alleviation of poverty and addressing the lack of services for the poor majority.
Among others, it sought to uplift impoverished coastal communities through ensuring that they could gain access to marine resources.Marine resources must be managed and controlled for the benefit of all South Africans, especially those communities whose livelihood depends on resources from the sea.
The democratic government must assist people to have access to these resources. Legislative measures must be introduced to establish democratic structures for the management of sea resources.
The new government set itself the task of formulating a fisheries policy that would address popular expectations for a more equitable redistribution of access rights, while maintaining an internationally competitive fishing industry.
To what extent has the government succeeded in restructuring access to marine resources to alleviate poverty and reduce the vulnerability of poor fishing communities?
Vested business interests succeeded in convincing the government that, in order to safeguard the prospects for international investment, there should be no deviation from free market principles.
Two years into democracy, the post-apartheid reform agenda had become a neo-liberal one which included privatisation, the removal of government subsidies, downsizing the public sector, and the encouragement of small black enterprise.
Although government programmes were intended to achieve both economic growth and equity, these efforts did not create jobs for the poor and unemployed.
The new government overlooked the progressive intentions in the RDP in favour of neo-liberal policy prescriptions. Fisheries policy was formalised in 1998 with the passing of the Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA). This law failed to address the social and economic challenges facing poor communities, especially with respect to maintaining their livelihoods. Under the MLRA, Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) fishing rights were allocated to individual small-scale fishers.
Improved access rights under the fisheries reform were intended to alleviate poverty by making wealth- generation activities possible.
The result was that this new action space was soon captured by the elite in the community (teachers, artisans, shop owners, local councillors) rather than those they were intended to benefit - the fishers in the community. The fishers, with limited literacy and numeracy skills, were unable to comply with the application requirements.
New entrants and established companies were mainly active in the formal space, and marginalised poor fishers in the informal action space.
The formal action space is occupied by those who were successful in obtaining fishing rights and the informal action space is occupied by those who were left out.
The community elite mainly used their political capital together with their social capital to access rights. However, it was not at all easy for the community elite to establish their small companies in this sector.
They found it difficult to survive without forming agreements with the established industries. The economic viability of the quota allocation, the lack of technical and management skills, the lack of start-up or investment capital, and the monopolistic business systems of the established companies continued to maintain their competitive advantage over the new entrants.
New entrants entered into joint venture agreements to harvest, process and market. Most of the SMMEs became more vulnerable as they started to feel the cumulative pressures of the lack of infrastructure to harvest, process and market their fishing rights, the business acumen needed to manage the quota, and the start-up capital to acquire the necessary equipment.
The informal action space was occupied mainly by marginalised groups and fishers who were constrained by social disadvantages, lack of assets, limited communication skills, and low numeracy and literacy skills from successfully gaining access to fishing rights.
Some of these groups showed their discontent with the formal rights allocation process by forming an alliance (the Artisanal Fishers Association and Masifundise) with assistance from the Legal Resource Centre and embarked upon litigation against the formal rights process.
The court case has been a mechanism for the poor to show their discontent in the public arena and this has provided leverage for a settlement agreement which has seen the rewriting of small-scale fisheries policy through a representative task team of community representatives of all coastal provinces.
The state's commitment also extends to restoring the principles and practices of community management and to formalise the position of fishers left outside the formal system between 1994 and 2007.
This commitment was conveyed to fisher representatives along the coast at a small-scale fishing summit organised by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in November last year.
The challenge is how to merge the ITQ system with a collective rights system which can succeed in alleviating poverty in coastal communities. To promote sustainable livelihoods and community-based systems, the rules of exclusion and substractibility (self-governance) are to be applied.
The community should be able to set rules about who should be able to participate in harvesting the benefits of the resource (exclusion). There is a lack of experience of self-governance systems, a lack of infrastructure to harvest, market and process, and a lack of community organisation to manage such a system.
The action spaces created by governance reforms attempted different initiatives to allocate fishing rights to address coastal poverty. The first was from the apartheid regime - community quotas and the formation of fishing community trusts.
This system was unsuitable as it was a top-down initiative, communities were not actively engaging in harvesting or economic opportunities to reduce poverty, there was elite capture, and there was no support from the state on how to manage and distribute the funds generated.
The second attempt was through formal allocation rights in which groups had to form small enterprises and companies to apply for fishing rights. They had to fill in the same forms as established companies and of the many new small companies formed along the West Coast, few were successful.
The third attempt was through piloting subsistence permits where Marine and Coastal Management promoted the creation of subsistence committees and permits were distributed.
The following year the committees dissolved from small enterprises to apply for medium rights allocation. The groups and individuals who were not incorporated in the medium and long-term allocations were accommodated through interim relief measures for lobster and line fish.
Although the action space created new opportunities for coastal communities to access rights, in reality it failed to improve livelihoods and reduce vulnerability.
Although governance reform processes created an action space for fishers to access fishing rights, the space was soon captured by the community elite and established industry players at the expense of vulnerable groups along the West Coast.
Poor fishing communities are dependent on decent jobs, but in reality there has been a loss of jobs, and a loss of security as those who are lucky enough to find employment are increasingly employed on a temporary or seasonal basis.
Those with jobs could generally avoid falling deeper into poverty. The survivalist nature of the operations of many small rights holders has meant increased vulnerability to entering into catching, processing and marketing agreements with established companies in exchange for small monthly payments.
These payments have reduced household poverty to a certain extent, but it seems this will last only as long as they have a rights allocation. Most vulnerable groups have fallen into deep poverty because of unemployment or poorly paid and insecure work, and limited prospects for a self-generated income.
Can a fisheries policy in its allocation of rights combine a poverty prevention and reduction function?
Poverty reduction favours an ITQ system which operates more effectively if the system mainstreams micro-enterprises as opposed to medium-size enterprises and includes regulation that prevents concentration over time.
Through small enterprises, the rights holders will accumulate capital and generate wealth and this will enable them to be lifted out of poverty.South Africa
Poverty prevention favours collective allocation systems like open access, community allocation, basket allocation, or a territorial user rights fisheries (TURF) system. Through open access fishers will have safety nets and this will prevent fishers from falling deeper into poverty.
The action space created by MLRA never considered community quotas, an inshore open access regime, or a TURF system to reduce poverty among marginalised, poor and vulnerable fishers. Subsistence permits and interim relief permits were thought to perform the poverty-prevention function.
A possible solution is to create a hybrid system of merging collective rights and individual rights systems. The challenge for policy makers is to integrate this system into local municipality plans and support the creation of co-operatives to create a system that is equitable. How will this system absorb the conflicts between users, markets, and scarce resources?
Although the action space constrained vulnerable groups and fishers from accessing fishing rights and forced them into the informal action space, they were able to reorganise and place sufficient pressure on government to reassess rights allocation to coastal communities.
The representatives from coastal communities, government and researchers are now co-operating in the formal action space to draft a new small-scale fisheries policy.
The future of small-scale fishing looks promising, but there are key concerns that should be addressed to incorporate vulnerable groups into the mainstream of rights allocation.
If the objective of a new small-scale fisheries policy is to alleviate coastal poverty, to impact positively on the livelihood of the poor and to reduce vulnerability, the challenge for government and civil society is to ensure a suitable, flexible and adaptable allocation system that could apply to coastal communities.
The other concern is to define small-scale fishers more broadly than subsistence fishers, and allow them to sell their harvest on local or international markets.
Finally, state assistance is necessary for the development of self-governance structures to ensure the sustainability of both the resource and fishery-based livelihoods.
The ANC came to power on the election promises it made in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. This document was an integrated, coherent socioeconomic framework for dealing with the consequences of apartheid, including the alleviation of poverty and addressing the lack of services for the poor majority.
Among others, it sought to uplift impoverished coastal communities through ensuring that they could gain access to marine resources.Marine resources must be managed and controlled for the benefit of all South Africans, especially those communities whose livelihood depends on resources from the sea.
The democratic government must assist people to have access to these resources. Legislative measures must be introduced to establish democratic structures for the management of sea resources.
The new government set itself the task of formulating a fisheries policy that would address popular expectations for a more equitable redistribution of access rights, while maintaining an internationally competitive fishing industry.
To what extent has the government succeeded in restructuring access to marine resources to alleviate poverty and reduce the vulnerability of poor fishing communities?
Vested business interests succeeded in convincing the government that, in order to safeguard the prospects for international investment, there should be no deviation from free market principles.
Two years into democracy, the post-apartheid reform agenda had become a neo-liberal one which included privatisation, the removal of government subsidies, downsizing the public sector, and the encouragement of small black enterprise.
Although government programmes were intended to achieve both economic growth and equity, these efforts did not create jobs for the poor and unemployed.
The new government overlooked the progressive intentions in the RDP in favour of neo-liberal policy prescriptions. Fisheries policy was formalised in 1998 with the passing of the Marine Living Resources Act (MLRA). This law failed to address the social and economic challenges facing poor communities, especially with respect to maintaining their livelihoods. Under the MLRA, Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) fishing rights were allocated to individual small-scale fishers.
Improved access rights under the fisheries reform were intended to alleviate poverty by making wealth- generation activities possible.
The result was that this new action space was soon captured by the elite in the community (teachers, artisans, shop owners, local councillors) rather than those they were intended to benefit - the fishers in the community. The fishers, with limited literacy and numeracy skills, were unable to comply with the application requirements.
New entrants and established companies were mainly active in the formal space, and marginalised poor fishers in the informal action space.
The formal action space is occupied by those who were successful in obtaining fishing rights and the informal action space is occupied by those who were left out.
The community elite mainly used their political capital together with their social capital to access rights. However, it was not at all easy for the community elite to establish their small companies in this sector.
They found it difficult to survive without forming agreements with the established industries. The economic viability of the quota allocation, the lack of technical and management skills, the lack of start-up or investment capital, and the monopolistic business systems of the established companies continued to maintain their competitive advantage over the new entrants.
New entrants entered into joint venture agreements to harvest, process and market. Most of the SMMEs became more vulnerable as they started to feel the cumulative pressures of the lack of infrastructure to harvest, process and market their fishing rights, the business acumen needed to manage the quota, and the start-up capital to acquire the necessary equipment.
The informal action space was occupied mainly by marginalised groups and fishers who were constrained by social disadvantages, lack of assets, limited communication skills, and low numeracy and literacy skills from successfully gaining access to fishing rights.
Some of these groups showed their discontent with the formal rights allocation process by forming an alliance (the Artisanal Fishers Association and Masifundise) with assistance from the Legal Resource Centre and embarked upon litigation against the formal rights process.
The court case has been a mechanism for the poor to show their discontent in the public arena and this has provided leverage for a settlement agreement which has seen the rewriting of small-scale fisheries policy through a representative task team of community representatives of all coastal provinces.
The state's commitment also extends to restoring the principles and practices of community management and to formalise the position of fishers left outside the formal system between 1994 and 2007.
This commitment was conveyed to fisher representatives along the coast at a small-scale fishing summit organised by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in November last year.
The challenge is how to merge the ITQ system with a collective rights system which can succeed in alleviating poverty in coastal communities. To promote sustainable livelihoods and community-based systems, the rules of exclusion and substractibility (self-governance) are to be applied.
The community should be able to set rules about who should be able to participate in harvesting the benefits of the resource (exclusion). There is a lack of experience of self-governance systems, a lack of infrastructure to harvest, market and process, and a lack of community organisation to manage such a system.
The action spaces created by governance reforms attempted different initiatives to allocate fishing rights to address coastal poverty. The first was from the apartheid regime - community quotas and the formation of fishing community trusts.
This system was unsuitable as it was a top-down initiative, communities were not actively engaging in harvesting or economic opportunities to reduce poverty, there was elite capture, and there was no support from the state on how to manage and distribute the funds generated.
The second attempt was through formal allocation rights in which groups had to form small enterprises and companies to apply for fishing rights. They had to fill in the same forms as established companies and of the many new small companies formed along the West Coast, few were successful.
The third attempt was through piloting subsistence permits where Marine and Coastal Management promoted the creation of subsistence committees and permits were distributed.
The following year the committees dissolved from small enterprises to apply for medium rights allocation. The groups and individuals who were not incorporated in the medium and long-term allocations were accommodated through interim relief measures for lobster and line fish.
Although the action space created new opportunities for coastal communities to access rights, in reality it failed to improve livelihoods and reduce vulnerability.
Although governance reform processes created an action space for fishers to access fishing rights, the space was soon captured by the community elite and established industry players at the expense of vulnerable groups along the West Coast.
Poor fishing communities are dependent on decent jobs, but in reality there has been a loss of jobs, and a loss of security as those who are lucky enough to find employment are increasingly employed on a temporary or seasonal basis.
Those with jobs could generally avoid falling deeper into poverty. The survivalist nature of the operations of many small rights holders has meant increased vulnerability to entering into catching, processing and marketing agreements with established companies in exchange for small monthly payments.
These payments have reduced household poverty to a certain extent, but it seems this will last only as long as they have a rights allocation. Most vulnerable groups have fallen into deep poverty because of unemployment or poorly paid and insecure work, and limited prospects for a self-generated income.
Can a fisheries policy in its allocation of rights combine a poverty prevention and reduction function?
Poverty reduction favours an ITQ system which operates more effectively if the system mainstreams micro-enterprises as opposed to medium-size enterprises and includes regulation that prevents concentration over time.
Through small enterprises, the rights holders will accumulate capital and generate wealth and this will enable them to be lifted out of poverty.
Poverty prevention favours collective allocation systems like open access, community allocation, basket allocation, or a territorial user rights fisheries (TURF) system. Through open access fishers will have safety nets and this will prevent fishers from falling deeper into poverty.
The action space created by MLRA never considered community quotas, an inshore open access regime, or a TURF system to reduce poverty among marginalised, poor and vulnerable fishers. Subsistence permits and interim relief permits were thought to perform the poverty-prevention function.
A possible solution is to create a hybrid system of merging collective rights and individual rights systems. The challenge for policy makers is to integrate this system into local municipality plans and support the creation of co-operatives to create a system that is equitable. How will this system absorb the conflicts between users, markets, and scarce resources?
Although the action space constrained vulnerable groups and fishers from accessing fishing rights and forced them into the informal action space, they were able to reorganise and place sufficient pressure on government to reassess rights allocation to coastal communities.
The representatives from coastal communities, government and researchers are now co-operating in the formal action space to draft a new small-scale fisheries policy.
The future of small-scale fishing looks promising, but there are key concerns that should be addressed to incorporate vulnerable groups into the mainstream of rights allocation.
If the objective of a new small-scale fisheries policy is to alleviate coastal poverty, to impact positively on the livelihood of the poor and to reduce vulnerability, the challenge for government and civil society is to ensure a suitable, flexible and adaptable allocation system that could apply to coastal communities.
The other concern is to define small-scale fishers more broadly than subsistence fishers, and allow them to sell their harvest on local or international markets.
Finally, state assistance is necessary for the development of self-governance structures to ensure the sustainability of both the resource and fishery-based livelihoods.
· Dr Isaacs is a senior lecturer at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the
News sponsored by www.shopwestcoast.co.za
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Sishen to Saldanha draft scope for Transnet
I was recently looking for more information about the growth potential of the West Coast and came across this scoping draft report it makes very interesting reading, it was too big to post on the site so I added a link below.
here is the full draft with forcasts into 2020
news brought to you by www.shopwestcoast.co.za
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING REPORT
(DEAT APPLICATION NO. 12/12/20/806)
for the proposed
PHASE 2 EXPANSION OF THE TRANSNET IRON ORE HANDLING
FACILITY, SALDANHA BAY, WESTERN CAPE
(DEAT APPLICATION NO. 12/12/20/806)
for the proposed
PHASE 2 EXPANSION OF THE TRANSNET IRON ORE HANDLING
FACILITY, SALDANHA BAY, WESTERN CAPE
here is the full draft with forcasts into 2020
news brought to you by www.shopwestcoast.co.za
Clean Development Mechanism for West Coast
The Western Cape provincial government has established a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) office in Cape Town, and is set to work with one of the largest CDM projects in the public transport sector, worth some €60-million, in collaboration with the Italian government.
The CDM office was working closely with the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Designated National Authority, which oversees the CDM registration process in South Africa.
“We have signed a memorandum-of-understanding with the Italian government for the provision of buses. But we are busy working out our carbon baseline now, and we estimate that the value is €60-million, for which we could get about 100 or 150 buses,” explained Western Cape Department of environmental affairs director Mark Gordon.
Speaking at the World Wildlife Fund National Renewable Energy conference in Sandton on Friday, he said that these were the buses that were used at the Beijing Olympics, and they were higher-efficiency diesel engine buses.
Gordon stated that there was a lot of work on the CDM methodology that needed to be done, and consultants were being appointed to do this. This was a project for the Department of Transport, “and we are providing the capacity from the CDM point of view”, confirmed Gordon.
The CDM is a mechanism through which carbon abatement projects can garner funding from developed nations, which have definite carbon reduction targets to adhere to. South Africa lags far behind in the registration of CDM projects (only 11 projects are registered in South Africa, out of 1 197 registered projects in total), when compared with other developing countries like China, India and Brazil.
Strong political support for renewable energy technologies in the Western Cape has ensured that this province moves ahead with implementing plans and programmes and the roll-out of renewable energy generation.
Gordon said that the Western Cape has set broad targets of 15% renewable energy generation by 2014, off the current base of about 5 000 MW. The province also wanted to achieve 10% energy efficiency against the baseline by 2014, as well as realising a 10% reduction in carbon emissions.
It was felt that these targets could be easily reached solely through capitalising on the wind power available in the Western Cape.
“We have also commissioned a grid study with the German government to look at wind development projects, primarily on the West Coast, and to look at coding issues and grid accessibility and grid study. So the study covers all of that quite closely with Eskom,” Gordon explained.
Through providing this wind atlas and resource assessment, the province was trying to offer more certainty for investors.
“On environmental impact assessment (EIA) methodology - this is always a problem for a lot of investors - we said we would provide some sort of certainty on EIA methodology on how we can provide certainty on where to locate wind farms. The kinds of areas we will say are no-go areas, we will say please don’t waste your time going into some areas, as we will not give you an EIA for those areas. And other areas with high wind potential, and we have taken those areas into account,” Gordon noted.
He said that there was a lot of positive information coming out of this.
“We are looking at about 700 MW onshore high capacity at 30% capacity factor; in the medium capacity range about 2 400 MW; and offshore about 1 500 MW."
This, he added, showed that the Western Cape had much more than 2 400 MW of wind potential on the West Coast.
Holiday on the West Coast
The CDM office was working closely with the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Designated National Authority, which oversees the CDM registration process in South Africa.
“We have signed a memorandum-of-understanding with the Italian government for the provision of buses. But we are busy working out our carbon baseline now, and we estimate that the value is €60-million, for which we could get about 100 or 150 buses,” explained Western Cape Department of environmental affairs director Mark Gordon.
Speaking at the World Wildlife Fund National Renewable Energy conference in Sandton on Friday, he said that these were the buses that were used at the Beijing Olympics, and they were higher-efficiency diesel engine buses.
Gordon stated that there was a lot of work on the CDM methodology that needed to be done, and consultants were being appointed to do this. This was a project for the Department of Transport, “and we are providing the capacity from the CDM point of view”, confirmed Gordon.
The CDM is a mechanism through which carbon abatement projects can garner funding from developed nations, which have definite carbon reduction targets to adhere to. South Africa lags far behind in the registration of CDM projects (only 11 projects are registered in South Africa, out of 1 197 registered projects in total), when compared with other developing countries like China, India and Brazil.
Strong political support for renewable energy technologies in the Western Cape has ensured that this province moves ahead with implementing plans and programmes and the roll-out of renewable energy generation.
Gordon said that the Western Cape has set broad targets of 15% renewable energy generation by 2014, off the current base of about 5 000 MW. The province also wanted to achieve 10% energy efficiency against the baseline by 2014, as well as realising a 10% reduction in carbon emissions.
It was felt that these targets could be easily reached solely through capitalising on the wind power available in the Western Cape.
“We have also commissioned a grid study with the German government to look at wind development projects, primarily on the West Coast, and to look at coding issues and grid accessibility and grid study. So the study covers all of that quite closely with Eskom,” Gordon explained.
Through providing this wind atlas and resource assessment, the province was trying to offer more certainty for investors.
“On environmental impact assessment (EIA) methodology - this is always a problem for a lot of investors - we said we would provide some sort of certainty on EIA methodology on how we can provide certainty on where to locate wind farms. The kinds of areas we will say are no-go areas, we will say please don’t waste your time going into some areas, as we will not give you an EIA for those areas. And other areas with high wind potential, and we have taken those areas into account,” Gordon noted.
He said that there was a lot of positive information coming out of this.
“We are looking at about 700 MW onshore high capacity at 30% capacity factor; in the medium capacity range about 2 400 MW; and offshore about 1 500 MW."
This, he added, showed that the Western Cape had much more than 2 400 MW of wind potential on the West Coast.
Holiday on the West Coast
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Duferco & Mittal slow down production.
It is rumored that Mittal steel West Coast has only orders for 10% of its capacity for November 2008, an official announcement is expected on 7th November 2008, Duferco Steel Processing who rely on Mittal steel in Saldanha has stopped production because of an empty order book
Weak metal prices will hit South African mining
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Minerals and Energy Minister, Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday the global financial crisis that had led to a decline in metal prices would negatively impact the country's mining sector.
"It (Financial crisis) is affecting all economies and South Africa is no exception," she said.
"I see it impacting on the producers. Of course also on the exports. I would think that it will impact on the negative. I'm very concerned because then it would have other negative consequences on employment."
Mining companies in South Africa have in recent weeks said they are taking a fresh look at their prospects and projects due to the credit squeeze that has led to fears of a global economic slowdown and resulted in weak metal prices.
Lonmin Plc, the world's No. 3 platinum producer, has advised trade unions of possible lay offs due to the big drop in demand for the metal from car makers, unions said on Monday.
Platinum has lost more than half its value in the last quarter on slow auto sales data and the outlook for demand from carmakers, who consume more than half of the annual platinum output to make catalysts to clean exhaust fumes.
Some other big players have said they too would review their projects owing to the credit crisis.
South Africa AngloGold Ashanti, the world's No. 3 gold producer, has said it plans to review capital expenditures of $400 million for next year by stopping some projects.
Sonjica, who spoke to reporters after the South African Chamber of Mines annual general meeting, said the country's drive to embrace blacks into the mainstream economy after years of exclusion under apartheid had also been adversely affected by the credit crunch, falling metal and stock prices.
Under the government-driven Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), miners are required to sell 15 percent of their assets to black investors by 2009 and 26 percent by 2014.
BLACK-OWNED
Black-owned companies seeking to buy the assets have relied on fast-fizzling credit, and some have become takeover targets.
"BEE performance has unfortunately been impacted severely by the financial meltdown," Sonjica said.
Sonjica added that the mining industry would meet early next year to review the progress of BEE in the sector.
South Africa's Impala Platinum Ltd (Implats) has make a friendly takeover bid of mostly shartes and cash to buy black-owned Mvelaphanda Resources (Mvela) and Mvela's unit Northam Platinum, in a bid to boost its output.
The deal highlights a trend where black-owned firms that do not have finances to develop projects are being seen as takeover targets by established producers.
Sipho Nkosi said, the Chamber of Mines President, said South African mining companies lost some 12 billion rand this year because of power shortages.
He said the mining sector wanted the government to introduce protocols to handle the nation's electricity crisis, among other issues to ensure that power customers are ranked in terms of their contribution to the economy.
The mining sector has long complained that it has had to bear the brunt of the power cuts, compared to other sectors of the economy. Mining firms are receiving some 90 percent of their normal power requirements.
News about the West Coast at www.shopwestcoast.co.za
Sales Job on the West Coast selling printing
You should be a self starter who can motivate yourself, relatively easy sales process, all thriving companies need the services we offer, and we have no competition on the West Coast.
Very small basic plus commission, earning potential in excess of R10,000 per month, training will be given to the right person, but if you cant sell don’t waste your time applying this is a sales position.
Area’s. Saldanha Bay, Britannia Bay, Darling, Doringbaai, Elands Bay, Grotto Bay, Hopefield, Jacobs Bay, Lamberts Bay, Langebaan, Paternoster, Shelley Point, St Helena Bay, Stompneusbaai, Vredenburg, Yzerfontein, West Coast.
Send a one page CV to Fax 0865328595 or email db@pencil.co.za, and tell me why we should give you the job. Company car for the right candidate after probation period.
Established company for over 30 years on the West Coast.
Very small basic plus commission, earning potential in excess of R10,000 per month, training will be given to the right person, but if you cant sell don’t waste your time applying this is a sales position.
Area’s. Saldanha Bay, Britannia Bay, Darling, Doringbaai, Elands Bay, Grotto Bay, Hopefield, Jacobs Bay, Lamberts Bay, Langebaan, Paternoster, Shelley Point, St Helena Bay, Stompneusbaai, Vredenburg, Yzerfontein, West Coast.
Send a one page CV to Fax 0865328595 or email db@pencil.co.za, and tell me why we should give you the job. Company car for the right candidate after probation period.
Established company for over 30 years on the West Coast.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Tiger Brands is selling Sea Harvest in Saldanha
Tiger Brands will facilitate the largest empowerment so far in the country's fishing industry, the food company said on Friday. It advised shareholders that it had received a R541-million cash offer from a consortium led by Brimstone, which included key members of Sea Harvest management, to acquire Tiger Brands' 73.16 percent stake in its partly-owned subsidiary company Sea Harvest. The offer was accepted by Tiger Brands. "Brimstone has from time to time indicated a desire to increase its shareholding in Sea Harvest... This transaction enables Tiger Brands to assist Brimstone in achieving its objectives and will result in a significant increase in Sea Harvest's empowerment shareholder base," said Peter Matlare, CEO of Tiger Brands in a statement. Brimstone and its partners believed they were well placed to assist Sea Harvest in strengthening its position as a market leader. Matlare said Brimstone was familiar with the operations of Sea Harvest and was positive about the long-term outlook of South Africa's fishing industry. The transaction was subject to a number of conditions before it became final. Sea Harvest is a deep-sea trawler fishing and fish processing company situated close to the fishing grounds of the cold Benguela Current ecosystem. Established in 1964, Sea Harvest is based in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast, about 140km from Cape Town. Sea Harvest employs approximately 2200 people and operates a fleet of 14 fresh fish trawlers and one factory freezer ship.
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News sponsored by West Coast Office National, Fast affordable quality printing 022 713 1111 West Coast
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