RES enters South African wind farm sector

Renewable Energy Systems (RES) has entered into the South African renewable energy sector with its purchase of wind farm projects from South African Renewable Green Energy, a local company based in Cape Town. The projects, now in the early phase of construction, are forecasted to generate an estimated capacity of 300MW.

RES is currently in the process of opening its office in Cape Town. Thomas Riboud, Director of RES, said that the company had thoroughly assessed South Africa’s energy market. He also made clear that even though the renewable energy sector in South Africa is still in its early stage, RES sees it as a business opportunity.

RES will soon start staff recruitment and intends to employ about five employees next year to run its office in South Africa.

In earlier news, RES had welcomed Crown Estate’s announcement that its partner, Centrica, had been granted the license to install wind turbines in the Irish Sea. The wind farm project, to be headed by Centrica with RES’s support, has the potential to generate 4.2GW of renewable energy – enough to power more than three million UK homes.

RES had previously worked with Centrica on several successful offshore wind farm projects, such as in Greater Wash, Inner Dowsing and Lincs. In addition, Centrica had obtained its first onshore wind farm, the 26MW Glens of Foudland project in Scotland, from RES back in 2004.

RES specializes in renewable project development – from site prospecting to operations and maintenance. The UK-based company has operations across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. Involved with green projects since the 1970s, RES has supported the development of several wind farms worldwide, including in France, Ireland, Scandinavia, the UK and the US.