A new programme to advance the field of social performance in South Africa’s renewable energy sector has been launched. The Initiative for Social Performance in Renewable Energy (INSPIRE), is a centre of excellence which seeks to drive leadership in South Africa’s renewable energy sector through learning, knowledge sharing, partnership and innovation that advances social performance.
The programme will help South Africa’s renewable energy sector to become a legitimate actor in the just energy transition, through deliberate involvement in the Sustainable Development Goals of the country.
The initiative is being led by Synergy Global Consulting under the guidance of Dr. Holle Wlokas. Its founding partners include Actis, Lekela Power and BTE Renewables. The founding partners provided seed-funding to establish this initiative.
The industry associations, namely SAWEA and South African PhotoVoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) are the implementation partners of INSPIRE. The respective Associations’ Working Groups are envisaged to benefit from partnering with INSPIRE in driving their objectives.
The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REI4P), is recognised as a highly effective policy instrument, designed to accelerate and sustain private investment in renewable energy by channelling private sector expertise and investment, and additionally plays a significant role in the social landscape of South Africa.
Collaboration key to achieve socio-economic development objectives of the sector
“It can be said that the sector is certainly coming of age. With a baseline of information gathered over the last ten years, through planning and executing socio-economic development (SED) initiatives for renewable energy projects, we are ready to shift from compliance-driven initiatives to more impact-driven programmes. Our vision is to see more collaboration amongst the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and also with other sectors of the economy, such as mining. Collaboration will enable us to co-create programmes with the communities, and at the same time, pool our resources to ensure more impactful initiatives, which INSPIRE, will help us capacitate,” explained Ntombifuthi Ntuli, CEO of the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA).
Speaking at the launch of this programme, which is implemented in partnership with the WITS University, Dr. Wlokas highlighted the advancement of the maturing REI4P sector and the growing understanding of the complex challenges to make a meaningful and long-term contribution to the development trajectory of communities and economies around the country.
“As the sector’s understanding of economic development and the wider field of social performance has matured over the past couple of years, we have seen companies grow dedicated teams to manage the work scopes. The number of professionals employed in this scope has risen from a mere handful at the onset of the REI4P to close to a hundred, and more even when counting site-level Community Liaison Officers,” she explained.
Social performance critical for REI4P
Learning from more established industry sectors, it is recognised that the capacity of Social Performance practitioners is absolutely critical in enabling the development outcomes of the REI4P to be realised.
“Capacity building requires relevant training offerings that assist with professional development and career pathing opportunities allowing people to envisage career progression in the sector. It also needs practitioners to be networked, have safe spaces to convene and exchange, multi-stakeholders to be facilitated to drive problem solving and innovation, and for relevant knowledge to be curated and made accessible,” added Dr. Wlokas.
She went on to explain that up until a few years ago still, this initiative would not have been possible. The industry needed to get to a stage where it could flex a collaborative muscle that could encompass the entire REI4P as an ecosystem.
“I believe that we need this time to mature as a sector to have meaningful conversations about economic development, social impacts, human rights, community relations and social license. We are now at a point of no return, as the renewable energy sector has gained traction in the country, the energy transition is unstoppable and collectively we can find ways to ensure that the industry has the capacity to tackle the country’s toughest socio-economic challenges head on,” concluded Dr. Wlokas.
The first three training courses will be implemented in H2 2021/H1 2022 through the Synergy Global Consulting and WITS University partnership. The first course is open for registrations on www.inspire-excellence.net .
