UNIDO South Africa participated in Enlit Africa 2024 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in May this year.
Dr. Diego Masera, UNIDO Representative for the Regional Office in Southern Africa, was a panelist in the session on Commercial and Industrial Self-generation – Ensuring Energy Security, specifically on the topic of “Taking control of your energy security.” His inputs included the lessons learned from the SA industry adaptation (SAIA) project and the opportunities for industry ito RE, EE and self-generation.
Mchenge Nyoka, National Coordinator for UNIDO’s decarbonisation and energy infrastructure projects in SA, participated in two panel discussions.
On the first panel, Adapting to climate change: The water/energy nexus – Building the ecosystem for a resilient future, he shared how the water energy nexus approach can be used to enhance the climate resilience of industry, and highlighted lessons learnt from the implementation of SAIA project.
The second panel focused on energy efficiency and demand response as potentially two sides of the same coin. “Yes, energy efficiency and demand-side response can be seen as two sides of the same coin when it comes to managing energy consumption effectively and promoting sustainability,” said Mchenge.
“While energy efficiency primarily focuses on reducing energy consumption through technological improvements and behavioural changes, demand-side response complements this by offering flexibility in energy usage patterns, thereby maximizing the efficiency and sustainability of the energy system as a whole. They are two complementary approaches that, when combined, offer significant benefits for energy management and environmental conservation”, he concluded.
In response to a question by the moderator on how to ensure that energy efficiency and demand response initiatives are inclusive and accessible to all communities, including those in under-served areas, he provided examples of some of the strategies that UNIDO employs in the planning, design and implementation of its projects. These include:
· Stakeholder engagement and participation
· Tailored technical assistance
· Financial assistance and incentives
· Data-driven approaches to inform policy formulation
· Health and environmental considerations.
Interviews conducted with Mchenge during the conference and posted on Enlit’s YouTube channel:
