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May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 11:49
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May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Cape Town - De Aar in the Karoo is
currently the focus of one of China’s largest power companies.
Over the weekend Zhu Yongpeng, president
of the state-controlled electricity company China Guodian, accompanied by some
of his top executives and the general manager of the Chinese wind-power company
Longyuan, a subsidiary of China Guodian, got together in De Aar to meet the
local authorities in the district.
China Guodian envisages establishing a
100MW wind farm in the De Aar area, in collaboration with South Africa’s Mulilo
Energy. This is part of a portfolio of six to nine wind farms across the entire
country with a capacity of more than 1 500MW.
The De Aar project can be expanded to
generate 300MW to 400MW, said Mulilo chief executive Johnny Cullum. The first
phase, with a capacity of about 100MW, involves an investment of R1.8bn.
China Guodian, together with Mulilo, has
already erected a couple of anemometer masts, the data from which will be
monitored in China.
China Guodian is considering building a
wind turbine assembly plant and blade factory in South Africa if there is
sufficient demand for wind turbines in this country and in the rest of Africa.
Such plants could create more than 1 500 jobs.
China Guodian has power stations
generating 85 000MW in China. These include nuclear power, coal and
hydroelectricity plants. Its wind power subsidiary, Longyuan, each year builds
new wind farms generating 2 000MW and it aims to become the world’s
biggest wind-farm operator by 2016.
If everything goes according to plan,
construction on the De Aar wind farm could begin by March 2011, and the first
stage be completed by 2012 with 67 1.5MW wind turbines.
Sindisile Madyo, manager for local
economic development at the Pixley ka Seme district municipality, said the
region was focusing on solar and wind power as well as hydroelectricity and
biomass in its strategy to become the future focal point for renewable energy
in the Northern Cape.
- Sake24.com
For
business news in Afrikaans, go to
www.sake24.com.