EASTERN CAPE - EC THE NEW WIND FARM HUB OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Eastern Cape has become firmly entrenched as the wind farm hub of South Africa's renewable energy generation drive. This after a seventh wind farm became fully operational in the province on Friday.

The 32 turbine Kouga Wind Farm produces enough electricity to power 55 households. At full production the Kouga Wind Farm can deliver 300 gigawatt hours of electricity per year - a helpful boost to the under-pressure electricity grid.

But it has also been a big boost for the Oyster Bay community.  Six hundred job opportunities were created during the construction phase.

Kouga Wind Farm CEO, Lukhanyo Ndube says, “We are having the energy crisis ... [to] have these being put online will definitely limit or reduce the impact to be felt by the communities.

 

Secondly, you have these projects that have the ability with a 2 year period to construct and deliver successful projects that will be connect[ed] to the grid.”

 

During construction more than a R1 million was invested in the community. A clinic was built and schools equipped.

 

Lusika Jansen from Sandwater Primary School says, “We didn't even have computers at our school but now we have our furniture. Now we have new furniture and now we could learn more about computers because we didn't even know how to [connect to] the internet.”

 

The investment into wind energy in the Eastern Cape is showing promising figures.

 

The Eastern Cape MEC for Finance, Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism,  Sakhumzi Somyo says, “This wind farm we are launching today [Friday], over a 20 year period there would be a flow of a plus R1 billion on the basics of the 26% benefit in the community investment here.” 

 

As part of governments renewal energy programme, wind farms will contribute more than 1800 megawatts of electricity to the grid.

 

VIA - thenewage.co.za