The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) is looking forward to an exciting 2014.

“2014 will bring more construction activity in the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), new investment and a series of corporate social investment (CSI) coups,” says AyandaVilakazi, CDC head of marketing and communications.

Coega’sbusiness managers also say thatdespite challenges relating to the global economic climate andchanges in funding models of IDZs toSpecial Economic Zones (SEZ),the immediate future looks rosy for Coega.

Of particular interest to ReSource readers is the  renewable energy and power generation sector.

DCD will be completing construction of their facility by early February and start manufacture of wind towers in the first quarter of this year.The 23 000m² factory will have the capacity to produce 110 wind towers a year. DCD recently announced that it has fixed contracts with wind energycompanyVestas, German wind turbine maker Nordex and Siemens, with the aim of becoming a world class supplier competitive in the global market.

Coega is poised to make a major announcement regarding a solar power investor in the next few months, said business development manager NkuliMxenge-Mayende. “This will start to establish Coegaas a major player in the renewables sector, considering DCD’s new facility and the wind power generation due to take place after the third and fourth round windows of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.”

GDF Suez has started to lay the groundwork for construction of its new R3.5-billion peaking power plant, Dedisa,the largest construction project at the Coega IDZ to date.  The station will create about 1 000, mainly local, construction jobs and complement the city’s power supply.