The Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay is well on its way to becoming South Africa and Africa’s hub for green energy components manufacturing and technologies, said Coega Development Corporation (CDC) energy division investment manager Sandisiwe Ncemane on Wednesday.

The organisation was bullish about the future of alternative-energy component manufacturing investments in its new financial year, having secured foreign direct investment (FDI) for green energy component manufacturing in South Africa close to R1-billion in its 2013/14 financial year.

CDC head of marketing and communications Dr Ayanda Vilakazi pointed out that new legislation, government’s robust renewable energy strategy and other value propositions inherent to Nelson Mandela Bay would support future investment and investment interest in the Eastern Cape’s green manufacturing economy.

“The new Special Economic Zones Act has introduced significant tax benefits, a reduction of red tape and labour productivity-enhancing mechanisms to investors, which will make the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ), wich the CDC operates, attractive as an investment location.

“This is further supported by Nelson Mandela Bay’s long-standing position as an industrial and manufacturing economic hub, the availability of a deep-water sea port [the Port of Ngqura] and a commitment towards green energy research by our local university [the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University], noted Vilakazi, adding that the sum of these parts provided a unique arrangement of value propositions to drive the attraction of foreign and local investment in the Coega IDZ.

FDI attracted to the Coega IDZ in the last year included solar products manufacturer JA Solar and solar farm construction services provider Powerway’s operational R660-million solar module manufacturing facility, and a R127-million renewable energy components manufacturing facility owned by Powerway/Sungrow, which would start production within the year.

A new ground-mounted solar energy harvesting plant was also commissioned at the Coega IDZ, the CDC announced earlier this month, while the R300-million DCD Wind Towers production facility also came online this year. The plant has an estimated output of between 110 and 120 wind towers a year.

Ncemane added that plans for on-grid and off-grid green-energy component manufacturing, which included, among others, wind towers and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in the Coega IDZ were alive and well.

“These investments are critical in supporting the 64 renewable-energy projects valued at R100-billion, which have been approved by South African government since 2011 and will produce 3 900 MW for South Africa’s energy mix through wind, solar PV and concentrated solar power,” she commented.