A small wind farm above the Kei River has bounced into the burgeoning green energy sector with the claim that communal land ownership is better for the people than turbines on farms owned by title deed.
The last of seven 85m-high wind turbines on the R335-million 21 megawatt Chaba energy farm is being erected on the hills along the southern banks of the Kei.
Twenty-six percent of the business will be owned by the Winds of Change community trust, which has been set up to create upliftment projects within a 50km radius, said the developer and CEO of InnoWind, Martin Webb.
Webb said the Industrial Development Corporation had given Winds of Change a loan to buy the shares. While strong and legitimate community structures existed where landlord and community were “one and the same thing”, community structures were not as strong in areas where land was owned by title deed, he added.
Sakhumzi Somyo, MEC for economic development, environmental affairs and tourism, through spokesman Sixolile Makaula, said: “It has become clear that wind and solar initiatives in the former homelands are at a competitive disadvantage.
“This means particular attention needs to be paid to supporting energy initiatives in these areas, especially given the deep socio-economic needs in the area.”
Somyo said his department looked forward to “working with the Chaba wind farm and the Great Kei municipality in supporting the participation of local SMMEs in the construction and operation of the facility.”
Webb’s publicist, Gcina Ntsaluba, said they were speaking ahead of a meeting in Bhisho today which would be attended by a number of players in the sector.
Webb said Chaba was built to plug neatly and cheaply into a Great Kei electrical 22kV sub-station 3.5km away. They expected to be selling electricity to 11300 rural homes and local farms by August.
Construction of the seven Vestas V112 turbines with their 56m-long blades started in March.
Ntsaluba said the Chaba project was one of seven wind farms selected by the Department of Energy under the Bid Window 2 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme.
Webb said smaller, decentralised wind energy plants were filling a large space left by larger wind farms, which he believed were guilty of “grid congestion” in “over-contested” areas.
He believes the bigger players are putting pressure on Eskom to upgrade the network to handle the new load, while smaller farms like Chaba are a snug fit.
He said: “Chaba wind farm is currently the only wind power project in the Eastern Cape be connected directly onto an existing distribution substation at the 22kV level, which is intuitively the right way to go in a capital-constrained economic climate in which national grid expansion plans are having to be deferred.”
Chaba is 8km from the Great Kei bridge, which bodes well for development. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Small wind farms hit the spot
The last of seven 85m-high wind turbines on the R335-million 21 megawatt Chaba energy farm is being erected on the hills along the southern banks of the Kei.
Twenty-six percent of the business will be owned by the Winds of Change community trust, which has been set up to create upliftment projects within a 50km radius, said the developer and CEO of InnoWind, Martin Webb.
Webb said the Industrial Development Corporation had given Winds of Change a loan to buy the shares. While strong and legitimate community structures existed where landlord and community were “one and the same thing”, community structures were not as strong in areas where land was owned by title deed, he added.
Sakhumzi Somyo, MEC for economic development, environmental affairs and tourism, through spokesman Sixolile Makaula, said: “It has become clear that wind and solar initiatives in the former homelands are at a competitive disadvantage.
“This means particular attention needs to be paid to supporting energy initiatives in these areas, especially given the deep socio-economic needs in the area.”
Somyo said his department looked forward to “working with the Chaba wind farm and the Great Kei municipality in supporting the participation of local SMMEs in the construction and operation of the facility.”
Webb’s publicist, Gcina Ntsaluba, said they were speaking ahead of a meeting in Bhisho today which would be attended by a number of players in the sector.
Webb said Chaba was built to plug neatly and cheaply into a Great Kei electrical 22kV sub-station 3.5km away. They expected to be selling electricity to 11300 rural homes and local farms by August.
Construction of the seven Vestas V112 turbines with their 56m-long blades started in March.
Ntsaluba said the Chaba project was one of seven wind farms selected by the Department of Energy under the Bid Window 2 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme.
Webb said smaller, decentralised wind energy plants were filling a large space left by larger wind farms, which he believed were guilty of “grid congestion” in “over-contested” areas.
He believes the bigger players are putting pressure on Eskom to upgrade the network to handle the new load, while smaller farms like Chaba are a snug fit.
He said: “Chaba wind farm is currently the only wind power project in the Eastern Cape be connected directly onto an existing distribution substation at the 22kV level, which is intuitively the right way to go in a capital-constrained economic climate in which national grid expansion plans are having to be deferred.”
Chaba is 8km from the Great Kei bridge, which bodes well for development. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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