Construction World February 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

DCD Wind Towers manufacturing facility, the Eastern Cape is set to become a leading wind energy hub.

A NEW ERA FOR SA manufacturing

The establishment of the R300-mil- lion, 23 000 m 2 DCD Wind Towers manufacturing facility marks a new era for South Africa's renew- DCD Wind Towers has officially completed its first in-house manufactured wind tower, which was transported to the Grassridge Wind Energy Facility in Nelson Mandela Bay in September 2014. Following this historic feat, the company plans to step up production volumes in the coming months. >

28

roller operators, coded welders and fitters. "A number of unskilled and semi-skilled individuals will be employed for sand blasting, painting and plasma cutting. The benefits to the local economy will penetrate beyond local skilled jobs and training to include logistics opportunities and additional value chain opportunities, thus creating a new industry in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape too," he explains. DCD Wind Towers is also contributing positively to sustainable and renewable power generation, as set out by the Depart- ment of Energy’s Renewable Energy Inde- pendent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). DCD Wind Towers has already signed co-operation agreements with the turbine manufacturers that have been successful in round two of the REIPPPP. The DCDWind Towers factory is expected to manufacture between 120 and 150 towers per year for the successful bidders in the REIPPPP programme. These towers will be manufactured to the highest international standards of quality and to exact OEM speci- fications, while remaining uniquely local.

CDC head of marketing and communications Ayanda Vilakazi, notes that the DCD Wind Towers manufacturing facility will diversify the traditionally automotive sector reliant Nelson Mandela Bay industrial base. "We want to attract investors to the Coega IDZ who are able to add value to the supply chain and align with national government’s drive for localisation of manu- facturing, especially in the renewables sector where there are many gaps for high- tech innovation and manufacture. A prime example of the success of this approach is DCD Wind Towers." IDC senior account manager for the metal, transport and machinery products unit, Joseph Sithole, believes that the manu- facturing sector is of tremendous impor- tance to South Africa's long term economic prospects, and suggests that the establish- ment of the DCD Wind Towers manufacturing facility is the first step in boosting investor confidence within the renewables sector. "Facilities such as this create direct jobs, and sustain a largemany jobs in raw mate- rial supply and service sectors. DCD Wind Towers is vital to deepening the techno-

able power generation capabilities, while contributing to the long term stability of national electricity supply. The DCD Wind Towers manufacturing facility, located at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) in the Eastern Cape, is a joint initiative between the DCD Group, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Coega Development Corpora- tion (CDC). The facility was specifically established in the Coega IDZ to support the localisation of wind tower manufacturing in South Africa, which essentially ensures the long term and sustainable creation of an estimated 150 to 200 operational positions and 628 construc- tion jobs. DCDWind Towers general manager Gerrit Viviers notes that the direct operational jobs created through the establishment of the DCD Wind Towers factory include; boilermakers, shot-blasting operators, cutting operators, chamfering operators,

CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2015