South African Renewables Finding Place in the Sun with 5,000-Megawatt Proposal

JOHANNESBURG--September 23, 2010--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--South Africa's power supply is forecast to come under heavy pressure in 2011as industrial output moves to regain levels reached before the global financial crisis hit. There has been a short breathing space since the blackouts of 2008 and the subsequent power quota restraints on major electricity consumers. The need to back cost-effective, quickly implemented power projects, while at the same time moving on mega base-load thermal projects and considering a nuclear program, has brought renewable energy into focus for the country. There is now growing government support for a number of studies on renewable energy projects that feature captive and national grid-scale power facilities. In a country with some of the highest solar radiation locations in the world, solar power has suddenly become a major renewable technology choice.