South Africa's Energy minister, Elizabeth Dipuo Peters will welcome delegates at the official networking reception at the event which is expected to gather over 600 visitors from across the globe. Clean Power Africa incorporates the fifth edition of the Hydropower Africa 2012 conference and exhibition and the second year of Solar Energy Africa.
Says the Clean Power Africa conference director, Nicolaas Loretz, "we have found that most utilities, municipalities and governments need more insight into retrofitting hydropower to their current dams. Also new opportunities have arisen in the mining industry where excessive water or flooding is now used to provide onsite power for mines and the Clean Power Africa programme will elaborate on this."
Loretz continues, "a very exciting trend in the hydropower sector is that conduit hydropower and generating hydropower energy from current water distribution systems are getting more and more traction and most utilities are now looking to capitalise on this."
According to Loretz, South Africa's Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme will be discussed and Dipuo Peters, will elaborate on the way forward.
"The programme will also provide up-to-date information on major projects and future prospects for project development, including mini, small and large hydro as well as PV (Photovoltaics) and CSP (Concentrated Solar Thermal Power). More coal-fired power plants are now incorporating CSP and the programme will include updates on this", says Loretz.
Programme highlights include:
Hydropower Africa:
Solar Energy Africa:
The event will also host site visit tours to some of the power plants in Africa, including Katse Dam (one of the 10 largest concrete arch dams in the world in terms of its volume), Steenbras (the first hydroelectric pumped-storage scheme in Africa), Palmiet PSS (won an award for Most Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement by SAICE) and South Africa's first concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar demonstration plant at the Aquila safari lodge, near Touws River.
Pre-conference workshops: 3 September
Conference and exhibition: 4-5 September
Site visits: 6 September
Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), South Africa
For more, go to www.cleanpower-africa.com.