German wind turbine maker Nordex SE sees further wind energy investment opportunities in South Africa‚ chief executive Lars Bondo Krogsgaard said this week.
“We see significant potential for wind energy in South Africa. You need the power and we can provide power into the South African grid (at a very competitive price)‚” Krogsgaard said
Nordex has several wind farms in South Africa already‚ and in April acquired Spanish wind turbine maker Acciona Windpower‚ which has a 138MW wind farm at Gouda near Cape Town.
It also has the Kouga wind farm in the Eastern Cape‚ which was one of the first projects in round one of the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme‚ and was connected to the national grid last year. The Kouga wind farm has 32 wind turbines on 80m towers in the Oyster Bay area near Port Elizabeth‚ and has an installed capacity of 80MW.
It uses labour from communities surrounding the facility and supports several social upliftment programmes.
Nordex also supplies electricity to Eskom from its 100MW Dorper Wind Farm in the Eastern Cape‚ which has 40 turbines.
It is developing the 138MW Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm near Bedford in the Eastern Cape‚ which has 56 turbines and was one of the seven wind projects selected in the second round of the renewables procurement programme. Half its content is local.
Nordex would be bidding for much more business in South Africa in the next round of the procurement programme Krogsgaard said‚ describing the country as a stable environment in which to do business.
“In the area of wind energy we have seen the government do very much what it set out to do.”
Nordex did not manufacture turbines in South Africa‚ but was committed to meeting the government’s requirements that a proportion of the construction work for wind farms be local‚ he said.
The Gouda wind farm‚ for example‚ uses locally made 100m concrete towers for its turbines‚ instead of the more traditional steel towers.
Nordex was prepared to increase local content if required to do so by the conditions the government attached to the next bids‚ Krogsgaard said. — BDLive
Energy boost on the cards for SA
“We see significant potential for wind energy in South Africa. You need the power and we can provide power into the South African grid (at a very competitive price)‚” Krogsgaard said
Nordex has several wind farms in South Africa already‚ and in April acquired Spanish wind turbine maker Acciona Windpower‚ which has a 138MW wind farm at Gouda near Cape Town.
It also has the Kouga wind farm in the Eastern Cape‚ which was one of the first projects in round one of the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme‚ and was connected to the national grid last year. The Kouga wind farm has 32 wind turbines on 80m towers in the Oyster Bay area near Port Elizabeth‚ and has an installed capacity of 80MW.
It uses labour from communities surrounding the facility and supports several social upliftment programmes.
Nordex also supplies electricity to Eskom from its 100MW Dorper Wind Farm in the Eastern Cape‚ which has 40 turbines.
It is developing the 138MW Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm near Bedford in the Eastern Cape‚ which has 56 turbines and was one of the seven wind projects selected in the second round of the renewables procurement programme. Half its content is local.
Nordex would be bidding for much more business in South Africa in the next round of the procurement programme Krogsgaard said‚ describing the country as a stable environment in which to do business.
“In the area of wind energy we have seen the government do very much what it set out to do.”
Nordex did not manufacture turbines in South Africa‚ but was committed to meeting the government’s requirements that a proportion of the construction work for wind farms be local‚ he said.
The Gouda wind farm‚ for example‚ uses locally made 100m concrete towers for its turbines‚ instead of the more traditional steel towers.
Nordex was prepared to increase local content if required to do so by the conditions the government attached to the next bids‚ Krogsgaard said. — BDLive
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