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 farm projects through notable milestones as he provides technical support to our Project Managers, facilitating the execution of the Brandvalley wind farm , Rietkloof wind farm , and Witberg wind farm.
To him, the groundbreaking solutions that come with these wind power projects show how far wind energy can go in addressing our current need in the country.
Making a Tangible Difference
Johan notes the transformation of ideas into physical wind farms as a special part of 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 wind turbines where there was nothing before,” he said
Overcoming Sector Challenges with Hybrid Solutions
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 integrating battery energy storage systems ) can provide a very similar service”.
Community Upliftment and Future Vision
Along with providing the benefits of clean energy , he believes in the power of wind farm 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 (integrating wind and solar power with energy storage ), even on our existing wind farms, and so better utilise the grid infrastructure, and so provide a more constant stream of energy to the grid,” he said.
