- The South African Department of Energy (DoE) has officially launched the Wind Atlas for South Africa (WASA) High-Resolution Wind Resource Map.
- The new map covers all nine provinces of South Africa for the first time.
Addressing seminar delegates, the Acting Director-General of the Department of Energy (DoE) emphasised the importance of accurately determining the availability of wind: “As we continue on our ambitious renewable energy path, wind energy remains an integral part of this goal. However, it would be difficult to plan thoroughly for the increased uptake of wind energy if one does not have certainty on wind resource availability.”
“Therefore, the need for reliable, accurate and representative data on wind is critical. It is for this reason that the Department of Energy undertook to complete WASA.”
The WASA 2 Seminar was hosted by the DoE in partnership with the SANEDI (South African National Energy Development Institute), Royal Danish Embassy, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It also included addresses by Mr Jørgen Erik Larsen, Counsellor – Water, Energy, Research and Innovation at the Embassy of Denmark in South Africa and UNDP Resident Representative Mr Walid Badawi.
The launch coincided with the ten-year-anniversary of the WASA project. WASA is a project of the South African Wind Energy Project (SAWEP) with the DoE as the Executing/Implementing Partner and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the UNDP country office support, with project management by SANEDI.
The WASA Large-Scale High-Resolution Wind Resource Map available at http://www.wasaproject.info/ shows detailed information of the surface wind across South Africa such as mean surface wind speed that assists planners, wind farm developers and others to identify areas for wind exploration.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
