Visit to renewable energies sector in Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt from South Africa
Berlin, 16th February 2012: Economics Minister Mike Mabuyakhulu from the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa recently paid a visit to the Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt regions. His purpose was to visit companies in the renewable energies sector to find out about the latest technological developments for a project in eThekwini/City of Durban. A strategic partnership with local networks means their members are now the preferred partners for this project.
Berlin, 02/07/2012: At the start of February, a South African government delegation led by Economics Minister Mike Mabuyakhulu from the KwaZulu-Natal province paid a visit to the Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt regions. The delegation wanted to find out about regional renewable energy companies’ current potential. The background to the visit is a project planned on a site of 800 hectares in eThekwini/City of Durban where a new technology park is to be built in which renewable energies will play a key role. By forming a strategic partnership with local networks, their members are now the preferred partners for the project.
The delegation was accompanied on its visit by project supervisor IKD-International GmbH and the strategic partner Berlin Solar Network among others. On 4th February 2012, the economics minister and his delegation assembled at ib vogt GmbH in Berlin. Following a short introduction to the field of photovoltaics, they then moved on to Thalheim in Saxony-Anhalt to visit the Sovello solar module plant. Sovello GmbH is one of the largest integrated manufacturers of solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules in the world. Afterwards there was a visit to a wind power plant near Wolfen in a wind field owned by the Europe-wide ENERTRAG AG concern from the Uckermark area, which has 13 wind turbines and an installed rated power of 25 MW. In the afternoon, the last stop on the itinerary was the solar power plant in Vockerode. The ground mounting system, which was planned and erected by ib vogt, has a rated power of 9.5 MWp and was connected up to the network on 19.10.2011.
As a result of the visit, Mike Mabuyakhulu, Minister for Economics and Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, opted to submit an application to the President of South Africa to set up a special economic zone. Selection of partner companies from the Berlin-Brandenburg network for this project is scheduled for March.
