”Please sign the LM world map to indicate your support for wind, and we will
build a factory in South Africa.” There were smiling faces everywhere not least
from the Crown Prince of Denmark and the Personal Assistant Energy advisor to
the South African President who took part in the joke. The informal situation
occurred this week, at the Danish Pavilion in an exhibition which was part of a
week-long official visit from a high level business delegation promoting Danish
companies in South Africa and with strong presence of the wind industry.
Senior Commercial Directors, Nirmal Gupta and Michael Fenger,
represented LM Wind Power and were pleased to experience first-hand the warm
welcome and popularity of Danish wind players in South Africa. Denmark is
perceived as one of the most important facilitators to the development of wind
in South Africa through support to local entrepreneurs in the
sector.
Local content will be a requirement
In
addition to the general positive perception of Denmark at the show, the royal
presence also helped attract lots of visitors to the booth. And Nirmal and
Michael took every opportunity to talk to government officials and wind turbine
manufacturers (WTM) such as Vestas, Siemens, Nordex, Acciona and Goldwind. All
these major players have an interest in a strong market in South Africa and LM
could be an attractive partner for the WTMs to meet local content requirements
through local blade production.
No blade factory just
yet
“As in many other countries with a growing economy, South Africa
is in need of more energy and the potential for wind is great. The government is
keen on finding a way to develop the market and looks a lot to Denmark for the
relevant competences and support. Realistically, however, the market is still
too small for LM to set up a local blade factory, but if the government fully
commits and the market grows bigger, this could be a very interesting location,”
Michael and Nirmal concluded.
From homepage of my company LM Wind Power - Made by Lene Mi Ran Kristiansen
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