South Africa’s first online resource for wind power – www.poweredbywind.co.za – has been launched by the South African Department of Energy in partnership with the Embassy of Denmark.

The online resource is being viewed as the backbone of the South African Wind Energy Awareness campaign, which provides an easily accessible online information portal for South Africans.

The Learner and Educator portals offer e-book learning, quizzes, FAQs and various other interesting facts around wind power, useful for grade 5-7 learners and educators. A lesson plan has also been developed for educators to aid them when conducting lessons about wind power, which forms part of the school curriculum.

The general portal aimed at business, NGOs and government departments contains more high-level information on South Africa’s wind power posture while also dispelling common misperceptions and myths.

Rene Dinesen, ambassador of Denmark in South Africa, says, “With the Powered by Wind website we are taking the South African Wind Energy Awareness Ccampaign to a new phase, creating a digital repository for all things about wind power. It is an important achievement for South Africa’s renewable energy efforts as it provides various target groups with current and contextual information on wind power.”

“Furthermore, with dedicated portals for both educators and learners we are – at an early age – instilling the importance of renewable energy in the world’s efforts to diversify our energy sources.”

Information on wind power has become critical to access following, among  others, the implementation of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers (REIPP) programme. Through the REIPP some provinces, such as the Western and Eastern Cape, will see the construction of multiple sites for wind power projects.