The first South African workshop on Ocean Energy with a focus on Wave and Ocean Current Energy was held in the Western Cape on Thursday, 21 February 2008 in the lovely settings of an African boma at the Spier Conference Centre.

The workshop was hosted by the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies on behalf of the South African National Energy Research Institute (SANERI) and Eskom Research and Innovation Department (ERID).

Sixty delegates representing academia, the public and the private sector participated in the workshop. The outcome of the workshop saw the revival of a long dormant area of research and the creation of a community of researchers, private sector investor and developers; and government with the common goal to harvest energy from the oceans.

Participants of the workshop agreed on the short term action of establishing a network of ocean energy stakeholders with ongoing communication through a website and e-mail with regular workshops and conferences to interact. This led to the creation of the Ocean Energy Network of South Africa (OENoSA). The vision of OENoSA is to create awareness of the viability of ocean energy utilisation in South Africa. The network will also work together with the government and other role-players such as Eskom and NERSA to enable a regulatory environment.

CENTRE FOR RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY STUDIES
Prof Wikus van Niekerk
Director
Tel: +27 21 808 4251
Fax: +27 21 883 8513
E-mail: wikus@sun.ac.za

SANEDI
Dr Thembakazi N. Mali
Senior Manager: Clean Energy Solutions
Tel: +27 11 280 0440
Fax: +27 11 280 0562
E-mail: ThembakaziM@SANEDI.ORG.ZA

ESKOM
Ms. Kubeshnie Bhugwandin
Acting Renewables Manager
Eskom Technology Division Research & Development
Tel: +27 11 629 5717
Fax: +27 86 656 4002

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