Solarcentury in Africa’s media spotlight

Last September saw the launch of Solarcentury Africa, with a buzzing launch event in Johannesburg. Since then, there has been growing interest in our views on the development of solar in Africa and the business case for renewables.

Last year, Solarcentury CEO Frans van den Heuvel was invited to appear on CNBC Africa to explain the potential for solar in southern Africa.

And now, more Solarcentury Africa executives have been making the news.

Gareth Warner, managing director at Solarcentury Africa, based in our Johannesburg office, recently spoke with South African newspaper, the Mail & Guardian, about the growing business case for renewables in Africa as the cost of energy from coal rises. He comments on the increasing interest on the continent for solar-diesel and solar-battery hybrid systems that run on solar but switch to diesel as back-up when the sun isn’t shining.

Bertrand Belben, Solarcentury’s International Business Developer Director, was filmed last year for Bloomberg’s newly launched Bloomberg TV Africa station. Appearing on The Africa Energy Report programme, Bertrand debates the topic of Africa’s green energy mix alongside experts from the biomass and hydropower industries. All three panellists believe there is an investment case for renewables in Africa.

Bertrand comments on the importance for Africa to develop the renewable energy sector:

“It’s paramount, we need to help the planet as much as we can and also help Africa. These technologies are running well and at grid parity. They make more sense than the dirty [coal] waste way of generating kWh.”

Watch here… the panel discussion starts at 11:19 minutes. The clip will be available online throughout April.