Being Green - 17 November 2017
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Are the Winds of Change blowing?
Despite the Trump-driven melodramatic pull-out of the United States, the Paris Climate Agreement talks are continuing with a new round – COP 23 – in the city of Bonn this week. And the message is always the same – CO2 levels are increasing and more has to be done. And the urgency has ticked up lately, with the latest figures showing a sudden surge, mainly because China has been increasing coal-fired generation to offset less hydro-power as a result of a drought. The last year has seen 36-thousand-million tonnes of CO2 emitted from human activities, up considerably from 2014 – 2015.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally, the South African Wind Energy Association, SAWEA, has been having a big wind indaba here in Cape Town, called – no surprise – Windaba. We have 6 000 MegaWatts of procured wind power, and development is on track. 19 wind farms are in operation, and over 100-thousand jobs have been created. But hanging over all the positive news is the worry about delayed government Power Purchase Agreements, PPA’s which has plagued the industry over the past two years. There’s a suspicion on the part of suspicious persons, that power politics is the cause – excuse the pun. Certain interested parties want to push for the Nuclear power agreement, so the delay helps them, it’s argued.
Let’s not go there. It’s complicated. I did visit the Windaba expo in Cape Town this week, and it was obvious that there were fewer exhibitors. But the wind energy businesses remain optimistic – they know they’re on the right side of history.
You might think that once the turbine is built and the blades start rotating, that’s it. Free energy from the wind, walk away. Not that simple – there’s always maintenance and servicing. And to keep the wheels turning smoothly – oil and grease. And not just any oil. I spoke to Ronald Marshall of KLUBER LUBRICATION, who have developed special lubricants for the taxing requirements of wind po
Despite the Trump-driven melodramatic pull-out of the United States, the Paris Climate Agreement talks are continuing with a new round – COP 23 – in the city of Bonn this week. And the message is always the same – CO2 levels are increasing and more has to be done. And the urgency has ticked up lately, with the latest figures showing a sudden surge, mainly because China has been increasing coal-fired generation to offset less hydro-power as a result of a drought. The last year has seen 36-thousand-million tonnes of CO2 emitted from human activities, up considerably from 2014 – 2015.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally, the South African Wind Energy Association, SAWEA, has been having a big wind indaba here in Cape Town, called – no surprise – Windaba. We have 6 000 MegaWatts of procured wind power, and development is on track. 19 wind farms are in operation, and over 100-thousand jobs have been created. But hanging over all the positive news is the worry about delayed government Power Purchase Agreements, PPA’s which has plagued the industry over the past two years. There’s a suspicion on the part of suspicious persons, that power politics is the cause – excuse the pun. Certain interested parties want to push for the Nuclear power agreement, so the delay helps them, it’s argued.
Let’s not go there. It’s complicated. I did visit the Windaba expo in Cape Town this week, and it was obvious that there were fewer exhibitors. But the wind energy businesses remain optimistic – they know they’re on the right side of history.
You might think that once the turbine is built and the blades start rotating, that’s it. Free energy from the wind, walk away. Not that simple – there’s always maintenance and servicing. And to keep the wheels turning smoothly – oil and grease. And not just any oil. I spoke to Ronald Marshall of KLUBER LUBRICATION, who have developed special lubricants for the taxing requirements of wind po
