Welcome to a very overdue SESSA members newsletter and allow me this opportunity to apologise for the lengthy hiatus in the distribution of such. From this month forward, production of the SESSA newsletter will continue on a monthly basis. A special thanks to Dion Abrahams who very capably produced the newsletter last year and I’d like to echo his invitation to send me your thoughts, editorial contributions and comments for inclusion in future editions at the discretion of the SESSA Communications Committee.

Undoubtedly, the biggest development in the last few months in the local South African sustainable energy realm has been the announcement by the National Energy Regulator (NERSA) of Renewable Energy Feed in Tariffs (Refit) for energy produced from wind, small hydro, landfill gas & concentrated solar sources. The original announcement can be downloaded off NERSA's website.

Commentary on the announcement has appeared in various local online media publications, namely, News24, IOL and Engineering News (including a short video clip of NERSA’s Thembani Bukula on the effect of the Refit on tariffs and consumers if your bandwidth will allow). Internationally, a short article appeared in Renewable Energy World along with commentary by one of SESSA’s members, Dr. Ruth Rabinowitz.

Since November, SESSA has been evolving a new website at http://sessa.org.za. Enhancements since then have been the implementation of a searchable corporate members directory and the implementation of a corporate members only section which has currently been launched to the Solar Water Heating Division as pilot group. Developments in the pipeline include an invitation for other corporate members to log in to the corporate members only section, an online application process to ease the faxing and e-mail burden of new membership applications and a tool for gathering consumer feedback.

In a push to create original content, SESSA would also like to invite anyone who may be interested in writing full length articles for the website to contact Stephen Forder at online.editor@sessa.org.za. Contributions will be accepted at the discretion of the SESSA Communications Committee consisting of John Ledger, Gavin Watson, Justice Marabwa, James McCallum and David Hancock. You will be given full credit for your work on the website which receives an average of 63 visitors a day currently and may serve as a useful platform to launch the careers of any budding sustainable energy journalists within our ranks! Typically, an article would consist of around 300 – 600 words.

Local

1. ISES Solar World Congress - 2009: Renewable energy resources can unlock Africa's potential
2. Green building council to start work on Green Star SA retail rating tool
3. SA energy sector to converge in June
4. South Africa Starts its Renewable Energy Race
5. Cooker protects environment and helps poor
   
6. A Waste of Energy
7. South Africa: Renewable Energy - Harnessing Africa's Natural Resources
8. New wind-energy partnership sets sights on 500-MW in SA by 2014

International

1. A potential breakthrough in harnessing the sun's energy
2. Building Australia's Low Pollution Future with Renewable Energy and New Solar Credits
3. Carbon Markets Slow Down
4. Is Algae the Biofuel of the Future?
5. Tesla Model S Launched
6. International Energy Agency still underestimates Renewable Energy

Energy Shortage (http://www.energyshortage.org/) is a website that shows current energy shortage hotspots around the globe. It is a useful resource for keeping abreast of global energy news.