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CONSTRUCTION WORLD OCTOBER 2015
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COMMENT
EDITOR
Wilhelm du Plessis
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Erna Oosthuizen
LAYOUT & DESIGN
Lesley Testa
CIRCULATION
Karen Smith
TOTAL CIRCULATION:
(Second Quarter ’15)
4 696
PUBLISHER
Karen Grant
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
Crown Publications cc
P O Box 140
BEDFORDVIEW, 2008
Tel: 27 11-622-4770 • Fax: 27 11-615-6108
The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.
PRINTED BY
Tandym Cape
Today South Africa has a capacity of
1 000 MW which is a bit more than the power
a nuclear reactor generates. The construction
of renewable installations, such as the massive
320 000 photovoltaic panels of the 94 MW
Sishen solar project, is surging in South Africa
and elsewhere in the developing world. In fact,
in April the process of harvesting renewable
energy was accelerated in line with the National
Development Plan.
The irony is that in South Africa – the
world’s fifth biggest supplier of coal, used in
the generation of electricity – solar and other
renewable energies are gaining very fast. So fast
that since 2011 these industries have attracted
some R193-billion in investments.
There is still a huge difference and some way
to go, but the gap is closing: 88% of SA’s elec-
tricity is generated from coal, while a mere 1,8%
of electricity is generated from wind and solar.
There are many reasons for the accelerated
growth. The obvious is the extreme elec-
tricity shortage, exacerbated by the fact that
that Medupi and Kusile coal-burning power
stations are years behind schedule and
have cost significantly more than originally
A sustainable
construction world
Sustainable ConstructionWorldis published as a
supplement to ConstructionWorld. This 36-page
magazine highlights the advances South Africa
has made in building in a sustainable manner
by focusing on celebrated projects, a new tool
available from the Green Building Council of
South Africa (in its quest in leading the South
African construction industry to building
greener), sustainable building materials and
alternative energy sources.
In 2010, when South Africa just
started with its drive to generate
more electricity from renewable
sources, particularly solar energy,
there were almost no utility-scale
photovoltaics in the country.
budgeted for. Renewable power has shed the
perception that green power is expensive power
and is now viewed as a very viable and easy
option (a big photovoltaic plant takes only 16
months to build).
Renewable installation is a bright light
– in both the electricity industry and the
construction industry in South Africa. According
to the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, government will procure in excess of
6 000 MWof wind, solar and hydro plants which
represents the biggest surge in power capacity
since the 1980s.
Wilhelm du Plessis
Editor
@ConstWorldSA
worldmagazinesa