On short notice, we managed to secure a complimentary space at the 4th Wind Power Africa Conference and Renewable Energy Exhibition which was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 28 to 30 May 2012. I had to think quickly about how we could add value to the exhibition with the very few resources at our disposal.
I did some research on the internet and came across an association of organisations called "Wind Empowerment". Wind Empowerment currently has 27 member organisations based across the globe, all of which somehow promote wind energy projects, specifically empowering rural poor communities by teaching them how to build their own wind turbines based on Hugh Piggott's open source wind turbine design. The design is such that it allows for the builders to make the turbine completely from scratch using mostly locally sourced materials. Wind Empowerment offers a platform for these organisations and the public to network, share experiences and learn from each other.
I immediately contacted Hugh and via Hugh came into contact with Piet Chevalier who is the founder of "I Love Wind Power" and who is also assisting Wind Empowerment with some work. "I Love Wind Power" has kicked off educational wind power community projects in Mali, Tanzania, Mexico and more recently in Brazil.
Piet and I had a long Skype conversation one week before the wind power conference and he kindly shared some resources with me.
As we always try to do when participating in such events, I decided to use recycled materials where possible in building our stand. I managed to source a large refrigerator cardboard box at Game's depot at my local mall and spent the Saturday before the conference painting the box to make a colourful background for our stand. The background shows a big bright sun shining on South Africa, the South African flag blowing in the wind and little houses with solar panels on roofs, wind turbines up on a hill and a boiling kettle on a solar cooker in the foreground. Most importantly, it shows the people of South Africa, all with smiles on their faces and a sign that says "Power for People" and "RE for SA!". Our objective with this background was to convey the clear message that we believe renewable energy solutions are do-able solutions for the benefit of the people of South Africa. Cleaner decentralised power solutions with free and 100% clean "fuel" is what South Africans (humans and animals) need and want!
In addition to our bright background, I made a 'chart' showing the map of Africa pinpointing all the locations where Wind Empowerment organisations are active. Noticeably, South Africa is not (yet) one of the countries, but hopefully this will change soon. I also ran an "I Love Windpower" video presentation on my laptop for people to see what work this organisation has done so far in Mali and elsewhere.
A fair amount of interest was generated in our stand and I met some great people and listened to interesting presentations. Interestingly, I found that the few members of the public I spoke to who came to view the exhibition were looking for more information on how they can buy or make their own wind turbines. Our stand offered some information in this regard. Most of the other stands were geared at marketing machinery and services available to developers of large wind farms although there was one local company that does smaller installations and also offers an "Off the Grid" course. There were quite a few delegates from abroad, especially Europe, some of who were representing businesses selling smaller wind turbines geared towards the domestic market. One of these companies actually offers for sale an 'all in one' power station geared towards rural environments that is set up in a container and which utilises a wind turbine and pv panels to harvest renewable energy. Their wind turbine design is apparently 'storm proof' and can easily be set up and relocated.
Below are a few snippets of things I learned/took out of this event:
*the general consensus is that small (single) wind turbine projects are more suited to rural environments, although there are designs and methods available for use of small turbines in urban environments, there are certain obstacles to overcome for example, insufficient height allowance, surrounding objects such as trees, buildings and other structures that interfere with wind flow, close proximity to neighbours who may find the turbine to be a disturbance, not to mention whether the wind blows enough or not.
*In Africa, rural communities make use of diesel generators as their main source of energy. Diesel is expensive and renewable energy solutions are therefore competitive even in these environments.
*There is much experimentation going on with wind turbine designs. Prof Jooste from the Vaal University of Technology gave a talk about some designs they have been experimenting with and how they are finding more efficient alternatives to the more conventional wind turbine design. Of note was his statement regarding larger wind farms is that his research showed that to rather use more small turbines than fewer large ones can prove to be more efficient/provide better output.
*I also met a few individuals from small towns surrounding Cape Town, who shared with me their experiences in implementing and experimenting with their own renewable energy solutions, some of whom offer home/farm installation services and some who have come up with their own unique inventions. David, one of FLOE's founders, gave a presentation on his idea for how we can all start producing our own clean power at home, sell excess back to Eskom and also get paid by Eskom for using less grid power, all the while saving Eskom money, costing government nothing, reducing our reliance on dirty/risky conventional power, and even earning additional income for your households!
*One speaker said that a good distance between a wind turbine and a house to avoid noise disturbance is 60 to 70 meters (this also depends on the design of the wind turbine, how it is erected and also the noise insulation of the building).
*Although Germany is very active in re installations, organisations have been formed by some German citizens who strongly oppose wind turbines due to their belief that they are not aesthetically pleasing and also cause noise disturbance, etc.
*Everybody is very excited about pv prospects for S Africa.
*The cost of PV / Wind power has come down dramatically since the early 1990s and the trend is continuing, with the speed of cost reduction increasing rapidly, especially over the past few years.
*Large RE projects are taking off in other African countries and ironically, SA, the most "advanced" African country is lagging behind.
*There is a lot of interest in underwater turbines to harness the immense power capacity of ocean currents which are available 24/7.
*One speaker said that wind turbines were being designed to accommodate a certain type of wind which is experienced over a very short portion of the year, when they should rather be designed around what the conditions are like for the majority of the year.
*Speakers shared valuable information regarding their experiences in constructing wind farms in other African regions. An interesting point that stood out for me regarding site selection was how holes would need to be drilled to check if the ground conditions were suitable for the building of wind turbine foundations. Developers also needed to take into consideration external costs e.g. fixing neglected infrastructure or even building new.
*Another topic of interest was the logistical problems encountered (i.e. transporting large wind turbine components in Africa where infrastructure, roads and even suitable trucks and cranes were lacking.). One speaker pointed out his concern for how this will be tackled with the upcoming roll out of large wind power developments in South Africa.
*Yats Gopaul of Cape Africa Renewable Energy Services gave a talk titled "1 - 15MW - The other side of delivering power to the people" and reminded us all that we need to start thinking out of the box for our energy solutions. It was encouraging to hear that this local company is showing an interest in community based projects.
*The Endangered Wildlife Trust gave a talk about wind turbines and the impact on birdlife. The message was an over-all positive one in that they don't oppose all wind turbine developments but do call for proper processes to be followed to ensure correct siting of wind turbines. I also learned that the public can report wildlife mortality/ies on any of Eskom’s infrastructures by calling the ESKOM-EWT Toll free number on 0860 111 535 or by email wep@ewt.org.za.
All and all, I am extremely pleased that we were able to participate. We learned a lot and I believe we achieved our goal of showing delegates and visitors that the ordinary residents of SA want RE.
I would like to thank Mr Hermann Oelsner and Dominique of AFRIWEA (African Wind Energy Association) and the CITCC for organising the event and making it possible for us to attend by sponsoring a space for us and I would like to thank Mr Hugh Piggott of Wind Empowerment and Mr P Chevalier of I Love Wind Power for the information offered and also for the great work you are doing across the African continent and abroad. I am hoping that we will be able to collaborate with a few other individuals in SA whom I met at the conference to work together on getting a project off the ground in SA.
Aside: I hope that the CTICC and other such facilities will soon consider switching from using small plastic water bottles to re-usable glass jugs for serving water. Regarding catering, although we were pleased to see the nice variety of veggie dishes on offer at this event, it would be wonderful if such facilities would consider stepping it up a notch, for example maybe changing the buffet ratio from 80% meat/20% veggies to 20% meat/80% veggie and by perhaps avoiding beef all together... and for a 'green geared' event (such as this one) to be all veg. Article by Ninette Tarlton of Free Life on Earth.
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