Ms Nomawethu Qase (Noma) is a Director responsible for Renewable Energy Initiatives at the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy. Her primary responsibility is to ensure the integration of renewable energy into the mainstream energy supply by planning and co-ordinating strategic interventions. She has been with the Department of Energy since July 2007. During this time she has successfully worked in partnership with local and international stakeholders such as the DBSA, UNDP, World Bank, Danish Embassy, Energy and Environment Partnership Programme and GIZ to name a few, on promoting renewable energy. Key initiatives that she implemented include: the first and second phase of the South African Wind Energy Programme which supported the development of the wind energy sector including the revival of the South African Wind Energy Association; the development of the Wind Atlas for South Africa and the South African Wind Energy Awareness Campaign; the Renewable Energy Market Transformation Programme which played a pivotal role in supporting some of the Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects that became preferred bidders under the world renowned Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme; the promotion of biogas which started off with the first national biogas conference in 2013. Following from this conference, a National Biogas Platform comprising public sector, private sector, academia and Research Institutes was established to assist government in unlocking the potential of the biogas industry in South Africa. In 2015 she led the publication of the first State of Renewable Energy in South Africa report. She is also a Board Member of the South African National Energy Development Institute since December 2016.
Noma, holds a Master of Philosophy in Energy Studies from the University of Cape Town. Her passion is to expand access to modern energy services to the South African public particularly urban and rural communities and to offer consumers sufficient energy choices and information on which to base their daily energy consumption decisions.