PROPERTY NEWS - Life as we know it, especially with regards to energy and electricity, is about to change irrevocably. This was the scenario sketched by Dr Hildegarde Fast, lead of the Energy Security Game Changer of the Western Cape Energy Security Unit at the recent Mossel Bay Energy Indaba, hosted by the Mossel Bay Municipality.

With the steady decline in fossil fuel, the need for environmentally sound and sustainable green energy solutions, and the rapid developments in the alternative energy field, the municipality realised the need to focus on renewable energy.

"Mossel Bay Municipality is open for business," the municipal manager, Adv Thys Giliomee, told delegates. "The municipality must do more than just create an environment conducive to local economic development, we have to expand our facilitating role by bringing stakeholders together and by being an enabler."

The future today
Setting the scene, Fast sketched a futuristic scenario of electric cars and a technologically driven everyday life - in the foreseeable future, within the lifespan of most of the delegates present. She said the future includes greater digitalisation with automated communications and operations, much of it driven from handheld sets such as cellphones. Electrical vehicles with smart charging options will become the norm. New, cheaper energy technologies such as solar and wind energy will make fossil fuel redundant over time as energy efficiency and storage improve. 

Ultimately, to remain relevant, municipalities, companies and individuals will be in a position to provide their own energy.

Ultimately, she said, the aim is to have large diversified energy source with a wheeling policy that can assist in overcoming regulatory complexities. "If municipal electricity prices increase at the same rate as Eskom, off-grid systems become more realistic for customers due to improved business case," Dr Fast said.

Municipalities should heed the fact that their income from the sale of electricity is no more a given, as solar energy will become one of the cheapest sources of energy in South Africa, and solar photovoltaic uptake will continue to increase. She accentuated the need for sustainable, low carbon diversified energy mix, also at local government level, to allow for economic growth unconstrained by electricity disruptions. Utilities, she said, will need to adapt to fit into the new energy landscape.

Municipal spatial planner Jaco Roux explained that the municipality's approved spatial development framework allows for initiatives to embrace the move towards more sustainable energy solutions.

André Britz of the Spekkies Project in Vanwyksdorp (left) in discussion with Barry Jacobs of the House of Khoi in Great Brak River and the municipal IDP manager, George van der Westhuizen. 

Innovations
Several other speakers highlighted innovations in, among others, electrical vehicles and progress being made with the N2 solar vehicle charging stations, the sustainability of PetroSA, and an interesting project to reintroduce spekboom into overgrazed areas in Vanwyksdorp. This project, initiated in 2015, has since grown to employ 60 previously unemployed, uneducated workers - creating an income for 65% of the homes in the area. In addition, the project has invested in food gardens for the community.

Adv De Villiers Botha said electro-mobility, known as e-mobility, is already a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine. He added, though, that a mixture of technologies is needed. In his concluding remarks the facilitator, Prof Erwin Schwella of the University of Stellenbosch, congratulated the Mossel Bay Municipality for its innovative stance in creating a stable environment and opportunities for energy efficient companies to establish businesses in the greater municipal area. 

He added that work on the establishment of a strategic economic zone for Mossel Bay is well under way.

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