Wind power is a very appropriate renewable-energy technology for South Africa, G7 Renewable Energies CEO Dr Kilian Hagemann told Engineering News, in an exclusive interview at the recent Africa Energy Forum, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. In fact, he noted, a decade ago, there was more wind energy capacity entering the South African market than solar energy capacity.

However, since then, the amount of solar energy capacity has greatly increased, creating a more balanced situation. This is because the barriers to entry into the local market are higher for wind than for solar.

“In South Africa, the best wind resources are inland, and not on the coast,” he highlighted. “But the big problem with inland wind is the need to protect large raptors and other birds, meaning some of the best areas for wind generation are off-limits.”

Further, wind projects really need scale to be effective – 50 MW capacity and above. In contrast, solar is economical at both large and small scales.

“Also, big solar projects are much easier to implement. It’s easier to get solar data than wind data,” he explained. “You need to measure wind at the proposed wind farm sites for 12 to 24 months before you can start implementing a project.”

The consequence is that while there are anything from 50 to 100 companies developing solar projects in South Africa, there are only about 20 developing wind projects.

“But that doesn’t make wind a bad technology for South Africa,” he affirmed. “The wind also blows at night! This is actually an important point. The fact is wind and solar really go hand-in-hand.”

G7 Energies exemplified this, developing solar, wind and battery energy storage (BES) projects. Although Hagemann’s PhD thesis had been on wind power, the company’s first project embraced all three of these technologies, with 155 MW of solar capacity, 86 MW of wind capacity, and 92 MW of BES capacity; it will become operational during the next 12 months. But the company’s second project will be solely wind power, with a capacity of 140 MW; this will become operational between the last quarter of next year and the first quarter of 2027.

“We’re a broad renewable-energy company,” he observed. “And we are both a developer and an independent power producer. We do everything from finding finance, designing optimal energy solutions, to operating our plants for 20 to 30 years. We are wholly focused on South Africa.”