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| You are here: | Comments and remarks to Wim Jonker Klunne |
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Hydro Alternative Energy, Inc., an emerging independent power provider ("IPP"), announced today its planned development and local government backed support of a hydrokinetic energy project in eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa, to harvest ocean energy and transform it into electricity. Meetings and discussions between HAE, eThekwini Municipality and the Durban Investment Promotion Agency led to the issuance to HAE of an Investment Facilitation Letter by the Deputy City Manager of eThekwini Municipality dated January 27th, 2012. Such letter expressly confirms the Municipality's in- principle support for HAE's planned power generation system project, to be undertaken in stages, with the first stage involving HAE's identification of suitable sites in the Agulhas current to install and moor offshore power generation systems. After such sites are identified, HAE plans to request environmental permits from the National Department of Environmental Affairs, and a power generation license to be issued by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. Plans call for HAE to develop, install and test a power plant unit of up to 5MW and once details of connecting to the Municipality's electricity distribution network have been finalized and a power purchase agreement executed with the Municipality, to commence electricity generation. The Municipality in its Investment Facilitation Letter has confirmed its ability to purchase electricity directly from independent power producers such as HAE provided that it complies with applicable legislative and municipal procurement procedures, and stated that it does not anticipate any obstacles in doing so. The Municipality in such letter also states that it will ensure that its staff provides HAE necessary assistance and support, and give priority attention to any land use applications or other decisions which may be required to enable the project to be swiftly implemented. In a presentation announcing this important Company development, Mark Antonucci, Co-CEO of HAE was quoted saying: "We are very proud to announce that the Municipality of eThekwini through Mr. Derek Naidoo, Deputy City Manager, has issued on our behalf, an Investment Facilitation Letter that will facilitate our planned development of a project that we have been excitedly looking forward to undertake. Our company, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, has chosen the city of Durban in South Africa to be our strategic partner in taking ocean energy generation to the next level. We note the commitment of Durban and the eThekwini Municipality to substantially reducing their carbon footprint and becoming /"greener/", with the eThekwini Municipality having recently hosted the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change." Mr. Antonucci was further quoted as saying: "We also very much would have liked to include Palm Beach County, Florida in our plans to develop and work together with federal and local authorities on a similar project utilizing our State's offshore Gulfstream current. Unfortunately, the laws and regulations of the United States, coupled with stifling governmental bureaucracy, do not allow us to do so at this time. Hopefully, in the near future, our officials in Washington will understand and promote the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector that can serve to truly foster and generate commercial applications for new green technology and job growth in this country." Additional information: HAE News date: 07/02/2012 |
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