Electricity and Control August 2021

RESKILLING, UPSKILLING + TRAINING

Social development in the just energy transition

A decade into South Africa’s renewable energy programme, the sector is gaining maturity. This is seen most recently in the launch of a skills development programme that will support the sector in playing a comprehensive role in the just energy transition, deliberately involving itself in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals within the country. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REI4P), is recognised as a highly effective policy instrument, designed to accelerate and sustain private sector investment and expertise in renewable energy. Additionally it plays a significant role in the social landscape of South Africa. The recent launch of the Initiative for Social Performance in Renewable Energy (INSPIRE) will establish a centre of excellence in the country to drive leadership in the energy transition through learning, training, knowledge sharing, partnership, research and innovation. Led by Synergy Global Consulting under the guidance of Dr Holle Wlokas, INSPIRE aims to advance the field of social performance in South Africa’s renewable energy sector. Speaking at the launch of the programme, which is implemented in partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Dr Wlokas highlighted the advances of thematuring REI4P sector and the growing understanding of the complex challenges that will enable it to make a meaningful and long-term contribution to the development of communities and economies around the country. “As the sector’s understanding of economic development and the wider field of social performance has matured over the past several years, we have seen companies grow dedicated teams to manage the new work scopes. The number of professionals employed in these has risen from a handful at the outset of the REI4P to close to a hundred, and more when counting site-level community liaison officers,” she explained. Learning from more established industry sectors, it is recognised that the capacity of social performance practitioners is critical in enabling the development outcomes of the REI4P to be realised. “Capacity building requires relevant training programmes that assist with professional development and career pathing opportunities, allowing people to envisage career progression in the sector. It also needs practitioners to be networked, have safe spaces to convene and exchange knowledge and insights, and facilitate multiple stakeholders to drive problem solving and innovation. Relevant knowledge needs to be curated and made accessible,” Dr Wlokas added. She went on to say that up until a few years ago, this initiative would not have been possible. The industry needed to get to a stage where it could flex its collaborative muscle, encompassing the entire REI4P as an ecosystem. “I believe we needed this time to mature as a sector, to share conversations about economic development, social impacts, human rights, community relations and

Experience in more established industry sectors has shown that the capacity of social performance practitioners will be key in realising the social development aims of the REI4P. social licence. As the renewable energy sector has gained traction in the country, the energy transition has become unstoppable and collectively we can find ways to ensure the industry has the capacity to tackle the country’s toughest socio-economic challenges,” said Dr Wlokas. Commenting on this initiative, Ntombifuthi Ntuli, CEO of the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) said: “The sector is certainly coming of age. With a baseline of information gathered over the past ten years, through planning and executing socio-economic development initiatives for renewable energy projects, we are ready to shift from compliance-driven programmes to more impact- driven programmes. Our vision is to see more collaboration among the independent power producers and with other sectors of the economy, such as mining. Collaboration will enable us to co-create programmes with the communities and, at the same time, pool our resources to ensure more impactful programmes, which INSPIRE will help us capacitate.” INSPIRE is led by Synergy Global Consulting and its foundingpartnersActis, LekelaPower andBTERenewables. The founding partners provided seed funding to establish this initiative. The industry associations, SAWEA and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) are implementation partners of INSPIRE. The respective associations’ Working Groups will benefit from partnering with INSPIRE in driving their objectives. The first three training courses will be implemented in H2 2021/H1 2022 through the Synergy Global Consulting and Wits University partnership. Registration for the first course is now open.

For more information visit: www.inspire-excellence.net

Electricity + Control AUGUST 2021

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