In this podcast, we interview people in the renewable energy sector to share their first-hand experience, how they overcome challenges, and what potential the sector holds. Memory and Roanne have a lot of experience in this still male dominated industry and are also sharing insights for women working in the energy sector. Which subsectors and geographies are most relevant for your work and should therefore be covered?
Are there certain areas during the development process that the knowledge series should address? This will be the first interview of hopefully many to come. So much for an introduction. Who wants to start? Maybe Roanne? Roanne Albertyn: Thanks, Alex. Thank you for inviting us to your first SCAF interview. And we really appreciate that. VS is a 50 year old company, originating from Sri Lanka. We were the first small IPP in that country. That was about 25 years ago. In , the business made a decision to expand into the African market.
At the moment, we are one of the leading integrated hydro players in Sub-Saharan Africa. My role at VS is to assist the technical team with the finance, legal compliance strategy and similar. With the projects and later integrating into the construction phase and operations. At the moment, we have about megawatts of projects under development across six countries in East and Southern Africa. Then usually at any one time, we have about two to three sites under construction, either ours or those for other developers and owners.
And one of the great things is working with other developers like Memory. Memory Mashingaidze: Thanks, Alex. But also just to give some thoughts in terms of how that project went. I wear two hats. Firstly, because of my historical role on the hydropower project Great Zimbabwe Hydro, I still have an executive role on that project where I serve as executive director of the company. So let me focus the next few minutes just on Tatanga Energy.
We have a pipeline of renewable energy projects, not as big as VS Hydro, but close. Most significant is our wind project, which will be one of the first wind power projects to be developed in Zimbabwe. My day to day role is firstly to oversee the operations of Great Zimbabwe Hydro, but also to lead the renewable energy development of Tatanga Energy. Alexander Kinnel: Thanks Memory.
