SA’s sunny skies are the limit as solar energy costs fall
by Katy Chance,
2015-04-30 06:39:19.0
TLALENG Moabi became interested in renewable energy in 2010, after an introduction to a Spanish firm looking to partner with local companies in the sector in SA.
A lot of reading later, and following a meeting with Irish company Mainstream looking at solar and wind-farm projects in SA — and spending time in Ireland in 2012 looking at their projects — Enzani has signed on for two projects.
"I am grateful to be involved in the early stages of the renewable energy space. SA hasn’t begun to tap the potential of this sector yet," says Moabi.
From using electricity to power other things, Moabi is now looking at using natural sources to create energy.
"It’s a sort of reversal but no project is ever just about electricity or electrical engineering.
"These renewable energy projects, particularly wind-based ones, are the second-biggest thing I have been involved in.
"The first was with the Gautrain. I was a technical adviser shortly after graduating in 2000. It made me look at things differently. The project looked pie in the sky at first but allowed me, as a new graduate, to see just how big I was allowed to think.
"And it made me realise that being an electrical engineer isn’t about one small component or system."
Moabi also has a master’s degree in transport engineering from Leeds University in the UK.
"People ask, ‘What has electrical engineering got to do with transport?’ But just as with renewable energy projects, all aspects of engineering are involved: civil, mechanical, electrical — and environmental."
This is why Moabi tends to classify herself as more of an infrastructure engineer: "I can conceptualise projects from all aspects; put all the concepts and requirements together — and see something greater than the sum of its engineering parts."
And she’s excited about the long-term prospects of renewable energy: "We live in a sunshine-rich country. Solar energy used to be so expensive — that was its major drawback — and electricity was cheap; now, necessarily, things have turned around.
"Renewable energy is becoming affordable and the sky is the limit."
Tlaleng Moabi, CEO of Enzani, at the company’s head office in Ormonde, in the south of Johannesburg. Picture: FREDDY MAVUNDA
TLALENG Moabi became interested in renewable energy in 2010, after an introduction to a Spanish firm looking to partner with local companies in the sector in SA.
A lot of reading later, and following a meeting with Irish company Mainstream looking at solar and wind-farm projects in SA — and spending time in Ireland in 2012 looking at their projects — Enzani has signed on for two projects.
"I am grateful to be involved in the early stages of the renewable energy space. SA hasn’t begun to tap the potential of this sector yet," says Moabi.
From using electricity to power other things, Moabi is now looking at using natural sources to create energy.
"It’s a sort of reversal but no project is ever just about electricity or electrical engineering.
"These renewable energy projects, particularly wind-based ones, are the second-biggest thing I have been involved in.
"The first was with the Gautrain. I was a technical adviser shortly after graduating in 2000. It made me look at things differently. The project looked pie in the sky at first but allowed me, as a new graduate, to see just how big I was allowed to think.
"And it made me realise that being an electrical engineer isn’t about one small component or system."
Moabi also has a master’s degree in transport engineering from Leeds University in the UK.
"People ask, ‘What has electrical engineering got to do with transport?’ But just as with renewable energy projects, all aspects of engineering are involved: civil, mechanical, electrical — and environmental."
This is why Moabi tends to classify herself as more of an infrastructure engineer: "I can conceptualise projects from all aspects; put all the concepts and requirements together — and see something greater than the sum of its engineering parts."
And she’s excited about the long-term prospects of renewable energy: "We live in a sunshine-rich country. Solar energy used to be so expensive — that was its major drawback — and electricity was cheap; now, necessarily, things have turned around.
"Renewable energy is becoming affordable and the sky is the limit."
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