Tsitsikamma wind project to get green energy going
Community benefits
December 1, 2009
By SLINDILE KHANYILE
THE R1 BILLION Tsitsikamma wind farm project launched yesterday moved South Africa another step closer to increasing its production of cleaner and renewable energy.
By 2013 the wind farm will produce 40 megawatts of electricity, which will be sold to Eskom. It is the first community-owned project of its kind in the country.
The Tsitsikamma community in the Eastern Cape owns the 7 000ha of land that will be used as the site of the wind farm. The community will hold at least a 10 percent share in the project.
Other key shareholders are Exxaro Resources, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, the Danish Export Credit Fund, the Danish Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries, Danish energy company Dong Energy, European Energy and Eastern Cape Community Wind Energy.
The latter is a non-governmental organisation that was formed to involve the community and educate them about renewable energy and its benefits. About 46 percent of the project will be owned by black economic empowerment partners.
Revenue, which has not yet been determined, will be split in similar proportions to shareholding at the beginning.
Mcebisi Msizi, the chief executive of Watt Energy, said the partners were motivated by the energy crisis in the country to look at alternative ways of producing electricity. South Africa faced several black-outs last year because of a coal shortage, which left Eskom short of electricity supply.
Msizi said the wind in the Eastern Cape had the potential to produce 10 000MW of energy.
"We have other targeted land and farms and hopefully if this one succeeds, we can duplicate the model elsewhere," said Msizi.
An environmental impact assessment is under way and the feasibility studies have also begun.
Sufficient wind for electricity generation must run at 5m a second. Feasibility studies show that the wind is averaging 6.5m a second at the site.
The government wants the country to produce 10 000 gigawatt-hours of energy from renewable sources by 2013.
David Mahuma, the chief director for renewable energy at the Department of Energy, said the country was producing about 5 percent of that target at present.
Mahuma said the government was reviewing its renewable energy strategy beyond 2013.
"In South Africa, we are one of the world's 20 leading polluters and projects like these show our seriousness as a country to move towards cleaner energy," said Mahuma.
The country has two wind farm pilot projects, in Darling and Klipheuwel. Mahuma said there were some challenges with the Klipheuwel project while an update on the Darling site was not readily available.
There will be 20 turbines installed in Tsitsikamma. Msizi said negotiations with Eskom were under way to sell electricity to the power utility but nothing had been finalised yet.
Grid connection estimations are that it would not cost less than R100 million.
Tsitsikamma is a poverty-stricken area, which does not have electricity, and the community's closest school is at least 25km away.
Thobile Makamba, the chairperson of the Tsitsikamma Community Trust, said the income generated by the wind farm would be used to deliver infrastructure that was not available in the area, such as building schools and health facilities.
Dan Frederiksen, Denmark's ambassador to South Africa, said the Danes were pleased to help South Africa generate more green energy as it was an area where the country still had a lot to learn.
"While the world has agreed to do something about carbon dioxide emissions, we also need people to make a difference on the ground.
"Denmark has been working with the South African government for 10 to 15 years and there is still a long way to go," said Frederiksen.
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