At a national seminar on ocean energy in Cape Town, Kevin Nassiep, CEO of the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI), highlighted aims to form a Marine Energy Association with the goal of promoting ocean energy for inclusion in South Africa’s long term Integrated Resource Plan . The plan aims to obtain over 40% of South Africa’s electrical energy from renewable sources by 2030.
South Africa has been a member of Ocean Energy Systems (OES) since 2010. The seminar was attended by 14 other OES member countries in advance of their 25th Executive Committee meeting in Cape Town.
At that meeting each national delegate presented up-to-the-minute information on their country’s activities and achievements, including policies and technology development, in the field of ocean energy. These covered tidal range, marine current, wave power, salinity gradient and advances in the ability to generate electrical power by harnessing the potential in the temperature difference between cold deep water and warmer surface water.
Speaking on day one of the two day meeting, Chairman of OES, José Luis Villate said
“We are delighted with the progress that is being made by our member countries around the world in increasing both the knowledge and practical application of ocean energy systems”
The meeting was also attended by two observer nations, Indonesia and Costa Rica.
Indonesia is second only to Canada in its length of accessible coastline. This lends itself to profitable exploitation of a wide range of ocean energy technologies and methods.
Costa Rica, with the deep waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans on each coastline and its proximity to the warmer waters of the tropics, is ideally placed to take advantage of ocean thermal energy conversion or OTEC as it is known.
France has been invited to join the OES in 2008 and is expected to join the OES when it hosts the next OES Executive Committee meeting in Paris in May 2014.
