GreenCape is pleased to introduce to our stakeholders a new appointment in our Energy Team.
Johan Strydom (Technical Energy Analyst)
What is your background expertise and how does that relate to your role here at GreenCape?
I studied electrical and electronic engineering at Stellenbosch University and worked for Transnet for about 6 years as a Project Engineer. I primarily worked on infrastructure upgrades, equipment refurbishment and new equipment purchase projects. I’ve always wanted to pivot back into the energy sector as that’s where my passion lies. I decided to work on getting my masters in smart grid engineering at Stellenbosch which is a structured master’s program with course work in Solar Design, Energy Storage, Demand Side Management, Renewable Energy Finance, Smart Grid communications etc. I completed all the course work in 2019 and only have the research project to complete this year. I really enjoyed the coursework and it confirmed my passion to work within the energy space.
Why have you chosen the career path that you have?
As I mentioned before, I’ve always been passionate about the energy sector, so I started looking for jobs that could link my passion and my skills to do something that makes a meaningful contribution to society. I think it was about 4 years ago when I went to a talk on renewable energy and one of the guest speakers was someone from GreenCape and I was really impressed by the type of insights shared. Since then I’ve been following the company and the work they do, also frequently looking at the career opportunities and requirements. I’ve since then slowly been working on building my skill set and knowledge base to match what the job of an energy analyst looked like, so I was really happy when I got the job and I’m looking forward to doing the work.
What projects have you been working on as you start your role here at GreenCape?
For now, I’ll be working on two industry briefs for Solar PV pricing and Energy storage pricing. Then I will be looking at one of the barriers for SSEG solar installations where the installation requires a professionally registered engineer to sign off the system which can cause bottlenecks in the approval process. I’ll also be working on the City of Cape Town’s projects specifically the energy storage stacking business case tool to assist with identifying areas where energy storage would be viable and contracted demand side management in the HVAC sector to try and reduce the energy used by office cooling and heating in the commercial sector.
What impact are you hoping to have in your sector?
I think one of the challenges with the energy sector and especially with so many renewables coming in is that the processes aren’t really streamlined for people to easily get into the market, either as an installer or an end user, it would be great if I could get involved in streamlining some of the processes and making it easier for people to contribute to the green economy. I would also like to drive technological innovation to ensure that the energy sector evolves with the growing trends of the 4th industrial revolution.
What’s your favourite thing about GreenCape?
My favourite thing has to be the people and the office environment. Everyone is very welcoming and although they are doing a lot of serious and important work, the atmosphere is very casual and social which I really enjoy. The coffee is great too.
What are your hobbies?
I like watching sport, I’m quite a big cricket fan so if I have a chance to watch or play it then that’s what I do. I also like reading, anything from the classics to fantasy to history books. I also enjoy random trivia and frequently attend quiz nights with the hope that I one day would know everything about anything. I also enjoy the braaiing and socializing with friends.
