Mayor attends renewable energy workshop in Abu Dhabi
“Solar farms would be a long term project. Right now, we are looking at the shortest term possible projects, like high-pressure solar geysers.”
With fossil energy sources fast becoming expensive and harder to refine, cities and governments across the world have started investigating, implementing and pioneering renewable energy sources.
IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) invited the Newcastle Municipality to attend a workshop on business models for renewable energy deployment in cities.
On January 22, Mayor of Newcastle, Afzul Rehman and the SED for Technical Services, Lindile Zincume travelled to Abu Dhabi, to attend the workshop. Upon their return, they have brought with them valuable lessons and contacts. The entire workshop was focused on alternative energy sources, like solar energy and green alternatives.
“The best part of the trip was that we had very strong discussions with the representatives from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP),” said Cllr Rehman, speaking at a press briefing on Monday. “They are very interested to come to Newcastle. They have rolled our projects in the Western Cape, and are also currently in discussions with other municipalities like eThekwini,” he continued.
UNEP will be coming to Newcastle to look at renewable energy solutions for the energy requirements of the community.
“We have looked at the issue of the high electricity tariffs, which is a world trend. Everywhere in the world people are now saying that electricity is a luxury,” said Cllr Rehman. “We all have to come on board and ask, how do we come up with a source of energy that will be cheaper?”
Cllr Rehman added we needed to take advantage of our sunny climate, with projects such as solar farms. “Solar farms would be a long term project. Right now, we are looking at the shortest term possible projects, like high-pressure solar geysers.”
Together with Eskom, the Newcastle Municipality has been able to provide roughly 3 500 solar geysers to residents, however, more affluent areas did not wish to sacrifice water pressure to have the low-pressure geysers installed. Now, UNEP will be able to provide not only the expertise, but also the funding to make such a project as high-pressure solar geysers possible.
The long and short term goals the mayor has set out to achieve, will be a pioneering step towards making Newcastle one of the foremost towns in the country, as far as renewable energy and green living are concerned.
“We have spoken about creating a smart city and I don’t believe that we will stop until we have come to an ideal situation,” concluded Cllr Rehman.
