MechChem Africa November-December 2021

Wind Atlas Project: WASA 3 The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) hosted an online seminar in October to announce the completion of the latest phase of its wind atlas project, WASA 3.

T he panellists at the SANEDI-hosted onlineseminar toannounce thecom- pletion of WASA-3 were chaired by SANEDI’s Karen Surridge, with rep- resentation by people from the Department ofMineral Resources andEnergy (DMRE), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the South African Wind Energy Project (SAWEP), the SouthAfricanWeather Service (SAWS), the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Nomawethu Qase, the DMRE’s director for new and renewable energy, said that WASA 3 used new and improved software that increased the speed of processing while reducing computer power requirements. The 19 sites, covering 75% of South Africa’s land area where observable readings were taken, have provided wind data that has been used to validate the WASA wind resource model- ling for the entire country. Qase expressed appreciation for SANEDI’s efforts in driving the WASA project. The seminar explained the need for a Wind Atlas, the process by which it is being compiled, how the data is being used, and made a presentation relating to the work of collecting thedata, compiling it andmodelling the results. SANEDI ’ s i n t e r im CEO, Le t habo Manamela, explained that the Wind Atlas provides a graphical representation of the

wind resources available in various areas of the country. This information is primarilyused by investors wishing to build wind farms in South Africa, she said. As a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, South Africa is obliged to reduce its carbon emissions dramatically within the next 30 years. Electricity generation and transport have been identified as the two largest emit - ters of CO 2 in the country. Both of these industries need to reduce emissions by tran- sitioning towards clean resources. The Uni ted Nat ions Development Programme (UNDP) focuses on climate change and the ‘greening’ of South Africa’s economy. The UNDP’s Ayodele Odusola, commended South Africa, saying that the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), which is internationally respected, sets an example for other countries to fol- low. Good practices in South Africa can be replicated in other African countries and abroad, he said. Independent studies show that the cheapest way to transition away from coal as the primary source of energy is to switch to solar and wind derived electricity. Wind and solar farms can be built wherever land space and suitable solar and/or wind re- source are available. AndreOtto, fromthe SouthAfricanWind

Energy Project (SAWEP 2), explained that to placewind turbines in placeswhere theywill benefit from the available wind resource, one needs to know where the best wind resources are. Nineteenmasts were erected over a period of ten years to collect data about these wind resources. In the physics of wind, Otto said, wind power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Therefore, the energy that can be extracted fromthewind is highly affected by the speed of the wind. Computer-derived digital (or numerical) modelling is used to convert global wind data through a process of meso- and microscale modelling, with each step increasing the resolution and in- corporating the land topography to estimate the local wind resource. Although it is possible to build a wind farm anywhere in the country – wherever land is available – there are some areas that are better suited to the production of elec- tricity fromwind than others. But how does one know where the best wind resources are to be found? This is where a Wind Atlas comes into play. This online seminar provid- ed information from the persons involved in the collection and analysis of wind data and the compilation of the atlas. In addition to the data collected from the 19 masts, further data has been supplied by the South AfricanWeather Service (SAWS). SAWS has 111 weather stations which hold 50 years’ worth of wind data. This data has been compacted to a range of wind speeds between 36 and 44m/s. Where wind speeds were below 36 m/s, they were increased to 36 m/s; and where they exceed 40 m/s, they are capped at 44 m/s. The WASA website holds a great deal of data including guidelines for the use of the data and how to access it, GIS maps and reports. Upon registration, this informa- tion stored on the site is accessible to the general public and those who wish to plan new wind farms. In closing, SANEDI’s Karen Surridge summarised the key points of the seminar, highlighting the value that WASA brings to government and the private sector, and handed over to Nomawethu Qase who thanked the panellists and the teams at the various organisations and institutions who had made the release of WASA 3 possible. She added that work on a prospective fourth phase –WASA 4 – would begin soon. www.wasaproject.info

The confirmed 2021 WASA 3 mean wind speed map for South Africa.

30 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2021