State-owned Eskom has established a new renewable-energy focused division to drive the power utility’s efforts in the renewable energy sector.

Eskom CEO Brian Dames told Engineering News Online on the sidelines of the Africa Utilities Week in Cape Town on Tuesday, that the Eskom board had approved the establishment of the division at its last board meeting in February.

The new division would be called the Eskom Renewables Business and would be effective from April 1.

Ayanda Nakedi of Eskom’s Generation division had been appointed to head up the Renewables Business division. Dames said Nakedi was currently in the process of putting together a team for the division.

The division would allow Eskom to have a concerted focus in terms of the renewable investments that Eskom was considering, said Dames.

In particular, the division would concentrate on the roll out of the proposed 100 MW wind farm near the town of Koekenaap in the Western Cape and the 100 MW concentrated solar power plant in the Northern Cape.

It would also be tasked with finding other opportunities for Eskom to expand further into the renewable energy sector.

Dames added that this division was an important new focus area for Eskom and would assist the company to adopt a growth path that was greener.