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KfW to grant €10mn for wind

training projects in SA

SOUTH AFRICA PART of a €10mn ($10.5mn or ZAR180mn) was loans, she said.
grant from the German development bank KfW Mokgadi Modise, the director of the SA
will be used to build a wind turbine on the Cape Renewable Energy Technology Centre (SARE-
Peninsula University Technology’s (CPUT) TEC) at CPUT, said the wind turbine will be
campus for the training of wind technicians in used to simulate the real work environment on
South Africa, according to a News24 report. site to help trainees familiarise themselves with
The grant is part of a commitment by Ger- the workspace.
many (alongside France, the UK, the US and Modise on Tuesday, December 6 hosted a site
the EU) to South Africa through the Just Energy visit to SARETEC by German Vice-Chancellor
Transition Partnership (JETP). It will also be and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and
used to reskill workers at state power utility Climate Action, Robert Habeck, who will be
Eskom, at its Grootvlei power station in Mpu- opening the German-African Business Summit
malanga, according to the media outlet. in Johannesburg later this week. Habeck is also
South Africa is the biggest emitter of green- visiting Namibia to sign a green hydrogen pro-
house gases (GHGs) in Africa and the 13th big- duction agreement.
gest in the world. The international partners at According to the head of co-operation at the
COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 pledged an initial German Embassy, Christian Grun, the grant
$8.5bn to support South Africa’s efforts to decar- funding is geared towards capacitating training
bonise its economy. for wind energy.
Most emissions in South Africa derive from “The idea is to use this for infrastructure
the energy sector, dominated by Eskom with its installation on a joint project between SARETEC
coal-fired power plants. The government is tar- and Eskom, for the reskilling and upskilling, spe-
geting funding to decarbonise Eskom, develop cifically for wind engineers,” Grun told News24.
a green hydrogen sector and introduce electric The details of how the funding will be split and
vehicles which do not run on petrol or diesel, for which projects are still to be ascertained.
writes News24. KfW’s director Silke Stadtmann confirmed
At South Africa’s inaugural Green Hydrogen that the bank would support SARETEC and a
Summit last week, German consul general Tanya wind turbine would be one of the projects, but
Werheit noted that the country’s commitment to said that due diligence process was required,
the JETP totalled about €1.1bn (ZAR20bn). A News24 reports.™
quarter of this was grant funding, while the rest

Week 49 07•December•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P17