Foreign companies supplying the South African wind energy industry have called for more clarity on the procurement requirements for future rounds of the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

The requirement for local content was steeply increased to 40% for the third bidding window of the REIPPPP. The Department of Energy also introduced a black identity shareholders requirement, mandating that companies or programmes need to have black South Africans as shareholders.

There is a question mark hanging over the local-content requirements for future rounds, as well as how many megawatts will be available to bid for.

“It’s a sound framework but companies need time to adjust to the local-content requirements and to find local suppliers,” Siemens Middle East and Africa Wind Power division director Tom Pedersen told the WINDaba conference in Cape Town.

He said wind turbine manufacturers, for instance, had a 12- to 18-month horizon for their projects – an extremely short turnaround time if they needed to source local partners.

“We need guarantees and commitments from the government. The first tower factory in Port Elizabeth is in the construction phase, but if there are delays or uncertainty, we won’t be able to meet the time schedule,” said global manufacturer of multimegawatt wind turbines Nordex Energy South Africa MD Ann Henschel.

Local heavy engineering company DCD is establishing a factory in Coega, in the Eastern Cape, that will produce complete tubular steel towers for the wind turbines.

Henschel said that, despite the risks, she was upbeat about prospects for wind energy and for Nordex in South Africa.

The Germany-based company, which has a local market share of around 26%, is supplying wind turbines to the 100 MW Dorper wind farm, the 80 MW Kouga wind farm and the 134 MW Amakhala Emoyeni wind farm, near Bedford in the Eastern Cape, where construction will start in the second half of 2014.

Henschel said Nordex had managed to overcome several obstacles at the wind farms.

At Dorper, project implementation is within the agreed time schedule, although logistics and the sourcing of the correct permits for transporting the wind turbine components from the Coega port without damage had proved to be a challenge. She said this had been overcome through partnerships with professional contractors.

The company is also getting involved in communities in the areas in which it is working through plans to set up a recreational centre for the youth in Dorper and education-related projects in Kouga.