The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA)  says more power needs to be generated by renewable energy sources as South Africa and the world face massive oil and gas price hikes.

The association highlighted the opportunity to build private generation plants by independent producers, as the country contends with rolling blackouts.

There are concerns about the impact of diesel price hikes on Eskom which uses diesel generators to supplement power from its coal powered plants.

SAWEA’s chief executive officer Niveshen Govender, says while there are many alternatives, renewable energy is by far the most feasible.

“We have more demand for electricity than we can supply as a country. So, any new generation capacity that will be brought on line will be helpful and useful to combat the load shedding challenges that we’re facing.  We’ve already as a country installed 5 gigawatts of renewable energy, of which 3.3 is wind energy. So, given the right market conditions, I believe renewable energy, and wind energy specifically can achieve more power to the grid quicker and cheaper,” says Govender.

Meanwhile, Eskom has on Thursday announced that the utility will reduce rolling blackouts from stage Three  to Stage Two.

Source: SABC News