African Utility Week brings 7 000 delegates to Western Cape

Around 7 000 delegates are in the Western Cape this week for the 17^th annual African Utility Week.

The event, with its focus on energy, starts at the Cape Town International Convention Centre today (16 May 2017) and ends on 18 May 2017.

Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, said GreenCape, which was established by the Western Cape Government to grow the green economy, would be exhibiting at the conference.

“This year’s African Utility Week comes at an exciting time for the Western Cape’s green economy. In the year ahead, we anticipate the designation of the proposed Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which will be used for infrastructure development, skills development for residents and the promotion of the SEZ to potential investors. The SEZ will promote the location of green technology companies in the Cape.

“In the Western Cape, we’ve selected energy security as a provincial government game-changer because we know that a sustainable and affordable energy supply is essential to attracting even more job-creating local and foreign investment. We are making good progress. South Africa is the world’s fastest-growing green economy. And in partnership with GreenCape, we are establishing the province as the hub of this growth, with two thirds of South Africa’s green manufacturing taking place in the Western Cape.”

​Maloba G Tshehla, Renewable Energy sector expert at GreenCape, said African Utility Week was a key opportunity for businesses and investors in the water and electricity space to stay abreast of developments, and to network with key players.

“The event is not only for people who work for utilities, but also for businesses, investors and other players active within these value chains. GreenCape, a key source of knowledge and market intelligence on the sector, will have a stand again, and businesses and government can chat with the team about work they have been doing to create demand in the embedded generation space. One project works directly with CEOs to help them make decisions on industrial and commercial installations of solar PV and other generation technologies.”

The team at the GreenCape stand will also offer:

• Market insight and advice on the water-development nexus;
• Advice on overall sustainability for retailers;
• To be linked with members within water and energy utilities value chains

For more information on the 17^th annual African Utility Week, kindly visit http://www.african-utility-week.com/FinanceAUWPR