The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) has announced the 2013/14 fiscal year will see the initial phases of a large-scale rollout of rooftop solar panels to be installed on government buildings across the province.
This was announced by MEC Qedani Mahlangu during the tabling of the department's budget vote last week.
According to Mahlangu, studies done at the University of Johannesburg showed Gauteng receives between 1 900Kw/h and 2 100Kw/h per square metre of solar irradiation, all year round. "We've quantified the available rooftop space on government-owned buildings to be about eight million square metres," said Mahlangu. "Our calculations indicate that mass rollout of solar panels on government rooftops will come at a cost of about R11.2 billion and lead to the generation of up to 300MW of electricity."
She said the project will be self-funding from existing financial resources meant for current electricity costs.
According to Mahlangu, a number of private sector companies are exploring opportunities to invest in the establishment of green technology manufacturing facilities in SA, including solar panel manufacturing. "We plan to use this mass rollout to drive job creation and enterprise development through local content requirements," said Mahlangu.
Speaking about long-term sustainability of the solar industry in Gauteng, Mahlangu said the department is engaging a number of stakeholders, including City Power, SANEDI, and the minister of energy on ways of identifying and dealing with constraints.
In addition to the installation of rooftop solar panels, the DID has also entered into a partnership with iGas to conduct a feasibility study on gas infrastructure required to supply natural gas to hospital boilers. The department is also investigating landfill sites to extract methane gas, which it plans to use for energy needs in provincial healthcare facilities.
The problem of a lack of technical staff in the department is also being addressed, said Mahlangu. A departmental scan, done in July 2012, showed the composition of staff to be 80% administrative staff and only 20% technical staff. "For a department like ours, the picture is actually supposed to be the other way round, with the balance tilted in favour of technical staff, by at least 70-30%, respectively."
Over the past year, 214 technical staff, including 143 artisans and 71 engineering professionals, had been appointed. The DID is in the process of filling another 42 technical posts. "This is a clear indication of our commitment to strengthen the state's technical expertise and thus radically improve the quality of service delivery," said Mahlangu.
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