Johan Kroes, Project Engineer at Red Rocket, believes that Global Wind Day highlights the importance of renewable energy, especially wind power.
In his role, he has been instrumental in seeing our wind projects through notable milestones as he provides technical support to our Project Managers, facilitating the execution of our Brandvalley, Rietkloof and Witberg wind projects.
To him, the groundbreaking solutions that come with the wind projects show how far wind energy can go in addressing our current need in the country.
Johan notes the transformation of ideas into the physical wind farms as a special part about his role that makes a tangible difference in the environment and in people’s lives. “It is great to see our designs and efforts finally materialising into erected turbines where there was nothing before,” he said.
Addressing the challenges facing the sector, he believes that wind energy “must face the myths of the exaggerated need for ‘base load’. Aggregated renewable energy (with hybrid farms with battery storage) can provide a very similar service”.
Along with providing the benefits of clean energy, he believes in the power of wind projects as a source of job creation in underprivileged areas in South Africa. This is in the effort to raise the quality of life for many people in the communities where our projects take shape.
“My hope is that we can build hybrid farms (wind and solar with batteries), even on our existing farms, and so better utilise the grid infrastructure, and so provide a more constant stream of energy to the grid,” he said.
