The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA), now in its second year of operation, recently welcomed in its new management board who were elected at the association’s second Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Johannesburg on Friday the 20th of July. Davin Chown, Director of Mainstream Renewable Power SA and Genesis Eco-Energy, as well as one of the association’s founding members, was voted in as SAPVIA’s Chairperson for the 2012 / 2013 period. Davin succeeds Chris Haw who has, until now, headed up the association as Chairperson. SAPVIA’s new management board consists of several commissioners which includes the Chairperson. These are: Chris Haw (Aurora Power Solutions); Davin Chown (Mainstream/ Genesis); Mike Levington (Kabi Energy); Rainer Nowak (Webber Wentzel); Ryan Hammond (Solairedirect); Tumi Mphahlele (Matajiri Projects) and Vincenzo Bellini (Soitec Solar).
Growth Since it was established in October 2010 by its seven founding members, SAPVIA’s membership base has grown to an impressive 80 members in just over a year and a half. The graphs below illustrate this growth path: SAPVIA has not only grown in terms of its members; the association has just recently employed an additional staff member to accommodate the growth in its membership base. On the 20th of June 2012 Rasheeqah Samodien was employed as Administrative Officer for SAPVIA. The role of the new staff member is administrative support to the Executive Manager. SAPVIA has also hired a technical consultant to assist with the management, and with drafting the terms of reference for SAPVIA’s research studies. Over the past year SAPVIA has gradually been becoming self-sufficient and will, in the near future, be sub-leasing its own office space.
Activities Networking Events During the course of this year, SAPVIA held two networking events and a strategy workshop. The associations networking events have been growing in popularity with an average of 60 – 65 guests attending each event. The events not only provide a platform for both members and non-members to engage with each other, but the information imparted at these events by the key note speakers is always topical, relevant and informative, and the format of the events allows the guests to participate in robust question and answer sessions. Some of the most recent keynote speakers have been:
Mark Gordon – DEA Strategic Advisor on Energy and Climate Change
Gerhard Fourie, Dti Chief Director for Green Industries
Kevin Leask, Chief Engineer at Eskom’s Strategic Grid Planning Unit
Rafikh Ismail, Senior Account Manager at the IDC’s Green Industries Unit
A summary of each of SAPVIA’s networking events can be found on the SAPVIA website: http://www.sapvia.org.za/category/networking-events/ Next Networking Event SAPVIA will host its fourth networking event on Tuesday the 28th of August. Should anyone be interested in sponsoring the event, they are welcome to contact Natalie on T: 021 418 3552; E: natalie@sapvia.org.za Workshop On the 9th of July SAPVIA hosted a strategy workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a platform for SAPVIA’s members to give their input on SAPVIA’s strategy for the year ahead in terms of Government engagement; research studies; member engagement and services provided to SAPVIA members; public relations; budget spend, etc. The outcomes of the study were translated into a formal strategy document which is available on the SAPVIA website. SAPVIA plans to host more workshops of a similar nature more regularly. Research Studies SAPVIA has realised the need to, and benefits of, building a body of well researched data to enable insight-based lobbying and has, over the course of the year, embarked on three research studies that delve into issues and obstacles that South Africa’s PV industry is currently facing, namely:
A Rooftop Solar PV Market Study – intended to help unlock the rooftop PV market in SA
A study on the localisation potential of solar PV and a strategy to support the large scale roll-out of PV in South Africa
A study that motivates for the streamlining of the application of EIA regulations to projects involving the generation of electricity from photovoltaic cells on developed land.
Grid Access sub-committee SAPVIA recently formed a new sub-committee, namely the grid Access Sub-Committee. The decision to establish the Grid Access Sub-Committee was a result of SAPVIA’s first official meeting with Eskom’s Grid Access Unit – a unit which has been specifically set up to deal with requests from renewable (and other) projects wanting to connect to the Eskom transmission or distribution network. The primary focus of the initial meeting was to introduce SAPVIA and to set up regular feedback meetings where industry and Eskom are able to communicate current issues being faced, future development plans, changes to existing legislation/regulation, technical standards and developments on any other matters that might be applicable. Small projects REIPPP programme From its membership base, SAPVIA collected and collated feedback on the small projects RFP documentation and submitted an official response to the administrators of the programme. Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) PV farm operations & maintenance qualification SAPVIA is assisting with the formulation of an Operations and MaintenanceQualification for PV farms which is being run and managed under the auspices of the South African Renewable Energy Training Centre. The qualification will be SAQA accredited and therefore can be adopted by any qualified academic institution in South Africa that has the relevant facilities, tutors and courses. For the time being the qualification is pitched at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level IV, which is an equivalent of an artisan qualification. The correct level will be determined during the development of the qualification.
In the Lens First Solar’s 80MWac Sarnia Solar Farm, located in Ontario, Canada, is one of the world’s largest solar energy facilities. The project consists of ~1.3million advanced thin-film solar modules and will provide enough power to serve the needs of approximately 10,000 local homes per year. 18kwp SolarTotal residential rooftop installation south of Johannesburg Low-cost housing solar solution Soitec’s 82kWp CPV power plant which was installed at Aquila game reserve in 2010 Wheal Jane, Solar Farm, Cornwall, UK, Development by 35 Degrees Ltd Solar Power installation team hard at work installing a rooftop system at Hewlett Packard
Conferences Solar Power Africa 2012: 27 – 30 August 2012, Cape Town, South Africa Solar Power Africa 2012 will see a gathering of power utilities, government, energy ministries, investors, energy regulators, energy efficiency bodies, IPPs and developers as they try to overcome the challenges and accelerate the pace of solar power generation in Africa. SAPVIA’s current Vice-Chairperson, Vincenzo Bellini, will give a presentation on the 29th of August titled: ‘Going off Grid – Cost, Regulation & Storage.’ PV Project Development Summit SA | 3 – 4 September 2012 | Johannesburg The PV Project Development Summit SA focuses exclusively on PV project development, bringing together local and international stakeholders to meet and discuss how to drive PV projects forwards in South Africa, to guarantee the future growth of the industry. Chris Haw will be speaking at the event on the 3rd of September. The topic is still to be confirmed. Renewable Energy Finance Forum SA (REFF SA) | 4 – 5 October 2012 | Johannesburg At the Renewable Energy Finance Forum SA, Davin Chown, SAPVIA’s current Spokesperson, will take part in a panel discussion titled: ‘Raising Capital for Renewables Development – a Developers Perspective.’ The discussion will delve into:
Risks across the renewable technology spectrum – how they compare and mitigation strategies
Relying on government subsidies and how to orient your business if incentives dry up
Experiences in raising capital – orienting your business for debt and equity investors
Preparing for new capital and how to ensure good returns on your margins
Considering the evolution of companies in the renewable space – where to next?
Renewable Energy World Africa | 6 – 8 November 2012 | Johannesburg Renewable Energy World Africa 2012 will feature three days of presentations and debate about the strategic challenges and technical solutions for expanding renewable energy power generation across sub-Saharan Africa where Chris Haw will deliver a presentation titled: ‘Developing a strong large and small scale Solar Industry’ on the 8th of November.
1. Why is this working group important?“The PV industry is growing and lacking skills”. To fill the gap and identify the skills that are needed in the PV industry, also drive the development of the training programmes and their quality assurances.)
2. Why should members join this working group? To make sure that the training guidelines we develop and the direction are and is in line with the needs of the industry.
3. What will the future of the working group look like? Develop road maps for solar PV training in different educational levels from schools, tvet colleges and universities. Also assure that the quality of the trainings which are offered and in place meet the standards and the demands of the industry.
4. What capacity (time, resources) is expected from members who want to join the working group? Make time to join and fully participate in the meetings.
1. Why is this working group important? Distributed Generation (which includes SSEG, EG, Wheeling Projects, BESS etc) in broad terms is the future solution for energy supply, not only in South Africa where load shedding exists, but also internationally. The reason is that on-site or localised generation (i.e. generation closer to load centres) from alternative and mostly RE resources are fast becoming cheaper than the traditional vertically integrated energy supply systems. Vertical systems also mostly rely on fossil-fuels which has to be transitioned away from in the interest of sustainability.
2. Why should members join this working group? Everyone has a duty to plough back into the industry within which he/she operates. This working group provides the opportunity to members from various backgrounds to become involved and contribute in fields wherein those individuals has expertise and could make a difference. It also creates the opportunity where participants in our industry get to know each other, thereby building your network to be able to share insights and gain insights. One proviso is however that this is a “working group”, not a sitting group, committee or a passenger group. If you don’t contribute and intend to just gain and not share then this group might not be for you.
3. What will the future of the working group look like? The working group would have diversified working streams whereby topical focus is obtained to a broad scope in industry interests to then provide feedback from such focused expertise to the larger working group for the benefit of the industry at large.
4. What capacity (time, resources) is expected from members who want to join the working group? A two-hour WG meeting every second month and a two-hour workstream engagement every alternate month. So two-hours per month in general unless there are occasions when members are called upon to engage externally in addition to just contributing to the current matters – such as industry forums, conferences, webinars, networking events etc.
1. Why is this working group important? To raise awareness among all stakeholders that buying locally manufactured products will ensure that the money spent by citizens stays in the country. It will also assist the country in realising its dream of growing the economy, safeguarding jobs, and creating more jobs for the unemployed.
2. Why should members join this working group? The benefit of this group work is that you can collaborate with experts who can learn from each other. Each group member will have something they can give the other team members. Local Manufacturing Members can get to understand the industry’s needs and requirements. End users will be able to understand what locally produced equipment is available in the market and share their requirements with the group.
3. What will the future of the working group look like? The expectation is that this working group will be able to engage with all industry stakeholders and offer solutions for all locally produced equipment and services at competitive rates.
4. What capacity (time, resources) is expected from members who want to join the working group? 1-2 Hours per month.
1. Why is this working group important? The Environmental Working Group is important as it keeps our members informed with current information regarding any new regulations applicable to the industry, regulatory changes or amendments, environmental best practices and compliance, trends and any other relevant topics.
2. Why should members join this working group? The working group is for participants that are passionate about making a difference and serving the sector for the best environmental results. The working group presents opportunities to learn and gain experience in areas outside of their own expertise and to share their knowledge with others. Participants and their specific expertise provide credibility to the work achieved in the working group.
3. What will the future of the working group look like? The working group will build on its knowledge base and expand into new areas that require focus for new matters at any specific time that the future will present in an ever-changing world.
4. What capacity (time, resources) is expected from members who want to join the working group? Members will need to be committed to serve at least 1.5 – 2.0 hours every quarter.
1. Why is this working group important? Grid Access is the single greatest challenge for the integration of renewable into the grid, not only in South Africa but Globally. This working group seeks to provide a platform for industry to support each other in all matters related to grid access, grid capacity, Eskom/industry discussions as well as keep up to date on the latest grid access rules be considered.
2. Why should members join this working group? Understanding the rules regarding grid access isn’t always easy, this working group is a great place to touch base with other industry colleagues to share knowledge, insight, tips and tricks as well as get access to the latest happening in the transmission grid access space. We also provide updates from the Energy Council and NECOM discussions with Eskom on the latest developing grid rules and proposals. We are also the creators and custodian of the National Annual Renewable Energy Grid Survey which is in the 3rd year of its existence. The national grid survey has become a key document to inform upcoming Eskom Transmission Planning studies such as the GCCA and TDP.
3. What will the future of the working group look like? We encourage broad participation by anyone in the industry with an interest in doing grid access applications. Future working groups will encourage grid managers from IPPs to assist with sharing knowledge from their own experience to benefit and give back in general.
4. What capacity (time, resources) is expected from members who want to join the working group? We will meet once every quarter. The working group will also call for volunteers for initiatives which may require additional donated time. The additional time will vary based on the initiative in question but is typically a few hours of service every month.
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PACKAGE OPTIONS
Package 1: SAPVIA Website High Rise x Size 120(w) & 600(h) x 1-month = R20 000
Package 2: SAPVIA Website The Tower x Size 300(w) & 600(h) x 1-month = R30 000
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15% discount applicable to SAPVIA Members.
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