South African minister Lindiwe Zulu has praised renewable power firm Building Energy for its work in the country
The firm manages and coordinates more than 30 projects in southern and central Africa from its office in Cape Town, including the largest solar farm on the continent at Kathu and Mkuze, the first biomass power plant in Africa.
“As minister of small business development, I was inspired to hear about the good work being done by Building Energy in our country,” said Zulu.
Refusing to call South Africa’s recent energy troubles a crisis, she added, “I am confident that Building Energy will be able to contribute to our national effort to resolve the current energy challenge.”
Both the South African department of energy and public power utility Eskom have been under mounting pressure recently over their failure to resolve the issue of persistent load shedding.
Four senior Eskom executives were suspended earlier this month, and the government is pursuing alternative options to increase power generation capacity, including a nuclear deal with Russia, and various renewable projects.
Fabrizio Zago, CEO of Building Energy, said, “South Africa represents a market with a huge potential for companies operating in the renewable energy sector such as Building Energy, thanks to its rich resources and to the governmental programmes for the development of this field.”
Zulu noted, “We will continue to work with this company as we continue to create opportunities for small businesses. I will pay a special visit to the Kathu plant soon to see for myself the good work that Building Energy is doing.”
The 81MW photovoltaic plant in South Africa’s Northern Cape, the largest in Africa, has been operational since August 2014.
