Notable progress for wind energy in SA
ESI Africa South Africa has 16 wind energy projects that have been given the go-ahead or are under construction, ranging in size from 20.6 MW to 138 MW and totalling 1,296.5 MW of generation capacity.
South Africa’s wind energy projects include Eskom’s 100 MW Sere wind farm, eight projects that got their go-ahead in the first round of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producer programme (REIPPP) and are currently under construction; and the seven round two projects that achieved financial closure in May 2013. This is a notable achievement, considering that only three years ago South Africa’s wind sector could lay claim only to the 5.2 MW Darling wind farm in the Western Cape and Eskom’s pilot 3.2 MW Klipheuwel project, neither particularly representative of what the modern wind power sector is capable of.
South Africa’s wind power sector has seen a national commitment to 8,400 MW of installed wind capacity through the country’s integrated resource plan (IRP 2010) that covers the next 20 years. This will equate to approximately 3,000 wind turbines. While the IRP will be amended and updated according to changes in technology and other factors, the South African government has thus far remained steadfastly committed to the renewables component of the plan.  in the Eastern Cape.
South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) chairman, Johan van den Berg, says that the organisation is now focused on issues pertaining to the construction of the over 1.0 GW of wind projects. “We are in execution mode and working to ensure that as an industry we deliver smoothly and on time. As an example, the majority of the projects are being undertaken on a turnkey engineering procurement construction (EPC) basis and will have their own project planning. However, from a wind sector perspective we are working to avoid or mitigate as much as possible potential logistical hurdles that could arise with numerous projects all looking at procuring access to certain construction and transport resources.” The topics Sawea has thus added to its previous focus on the regulatory environment and ensuring that government achieves its socioeconomic goals with the REIPPP include practical matters such as confirming when traffic rules allow for heavy haul vehicles to travel to sites, and similar issues.