Energy through partnerships

KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Energy Summit, hosted at the majestic Villa Castollini on Wednesday 21 June, was an insightful opportunity for the private and public sector to collaborate and address the energy needs of the town.

As one delegate pointed out, 21 June is the shortest daylight day of the year, and we certainly need the most enlightened energy.

The summit was organised by Jan van der Westhuizen and Alan Bell, who are representatives of the Greater Knysna Business Chamber sub-committee for water, waste and electricity, and it brought together stakeholders from national and provincial sectors to present various initiatives and solutions on how to meet energy needs - not only in Knysna, but the entire Garden Route.

The summit was a forum for presentations on how to combat the energy crisis from an infrastructure, financial and environmental perspective.

Practical solutions were presented for a range of issues such as load shedding, natural disasters, waste and pollution, while reducing carbon waste and protecting natural resources. Notable speakers were Dr Petrus van Niekerk, senior advisor at the South African Local Government Association (Salga), who spoke about the impact of load shedding on municipalities and steps towards regional solutions.

It was evident that Van Niekerk is a strong ally for Knysna in Salga, as he was previously part of the Knysna Municipality. His presentation was followed by Nishen Brijraj, deputy director of the Green Economy Directorate of the Department of the WC Premier, who presented an overview of the Western Cape energy resilience programme. Knysna Deputy Mayor Alberto Marbi set the scene by explaining their support for the energy summit.

"Our municipality is committed to exploring alternative sources of energy and efficient energy initiatives that will not only benefit the environment but also create sustainable solutions for our energy needs," Marbi said.

"We understand the urgency of pursuing cleaner, more efficient energy sources by reducing our carbon footprint, mitigating climate change and paving the way for a healthier and better tomorrow. This is a crucial step forward."

Tholi Biyela, electrical manager at Knysna Municipality, presented the Knysna Municipality Energy Resilience Plan. Some of the proposed infrastructure projects are:

Waste to Energy plant at Knysna Wastewater Treatment Plant
Renewable energy plant
Battery energy storage system (Bess) project
Conversion of public lights, traffic lights, sport fields and municipal building lights
Upgrading of transformers and proposed new main intake substation
Upgrading of Bongani substation and linking up with Khayalethu substation, medium voltage bulk infrastructure switchgear
Upgrading of low voltage bulk infrastructure
Other proposed electrification projects

Adriaan Shipalana and Beverly Pothier of KnysnaON expanded about the impact of power cuts on businesses and the solutions they have implemented.

Then Pam Booth, environmental manager of Knysna Municipality, spoke about waste to energy and the reason they completed a feasibility study for the project. Chris Bosch of Rural Maintenance shared the Mafube journey and lessons learnt, while Pierre Gouws of Southern Right Financial Solutions highlighted tax incentives for renewable energy.

The event was sponsored by Villa Castollini, Seeff Knysna, Rubicon, Southern Right Financial Solutions, Action Ads, Green Rhino Solar and Co-Co Waste to Energy.

The private and public sectors came together at Villa Castollini to find solutions for the energy crisis on 21 June.

Partnerships are crucial

A number of plans for sustainable energy were presented, and the Waste to Energy project gained momentum with support from the Knysna Municipality and the larger Garden Route. Hybrid solutions such as solar, PV, wind and hydro projects were indicated to sustain energy provision.

"Energy through partnerships is most important to us. While municipalities are responsible for provision and governance of electricity provision, business chambers are responsible for effective business practices," said Van der Westhuizen.

"The Greater Knysna Business Chamber wants to ensure that we establish a good relationship with the Knysna Municipality to take the town forward. A strong healthy relationship is key. Not one of these can be delivered without a good partnership. Today we have achieved this. Feedback on the event has been extremely good and it provided motivation for us to get things done, first time right, in this town."

Lester Day of the Greater Knysna Business Chamber opening the Knysna Energy Summit.