14 November 2015, Sweetcrude, Pretoria — Eskom’s Ayanda Nakedi has been recognised for her contribution to the renewable energy industry.
“Eskom is pleased to announce that Ayanda Nakedi, Eskom’s Senior General Manager for Renewables, was one of the leaders recognised at this year’s Windaba for their contribution to the industry,” said Eskom on Wednesday.
Windaba is the South African Wind Energy Association’s annual conference and at its gala evening last week, a special accolade of “Wind Energy Pioneer Award” was bestowed upon Nakedi for outstanding service to the industry.
“This award is considered the association’s highest honour and we are indeed proud and privileged to have a leader of Ayanda’s calibre in our midst. She has indeed been a pioneer, having overseen the commercial operation of Eskom’s 100MW Sere Wind Farm, our first utility-scale renewable energy project.
“The project was completed on time and within budget, with a safety record in line with our zero harm policy,” said Eskom’s Chief Executive Brian Molefe.
Nakedi said it was humbling to receive the honour.
“The renewables space is certainly an exciting area to be involved in and for Eskom we are firmly on the path towards reducing our carbon footprint and investing in a sustainable energy future.”
Besides Sere, development work continues on the photovoltaic (PV) rollout at Eskom’s existing administration buildings, power stations and transmission substations, and also on solar augmentation where existing power stations are hybridised with solar thermal energy.
*SAnews.gov.za
