Theewaterskloof |Bredasdorp | Napier
Year 3 • Tuesday 14 May 2013 | Tel. 028 214 1294
WIND TURBINES ARE 40 STOREYS HIGH – AMONG THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD
Towering turbines arrive ANNETTE THERON
Construction has started on the first wind farm in the Overberg and nine turbines standing 40 storeys tall are expected to start turning in January next year on Klipheuvel farm, just outside Caledon. The ground-breaking ceremony for Biotherm’s KlipheuvelDassiefontein wind energy facility, the 23rd under construction in South Africa, was held last Wednesday (8 May), where Jasandra Nyker, chief executive officer of Biotherm, said the nine 3 mW turbines will be among the largest in the world. These large turbines are used due to limited available land. The ceremony was hosted next to an 80 x 60 m area, approximately the size of a soccer field, where the first turbine will be erected.Ludwig van Aarde, technical director of Biotherm, said four of the foundation rings have been delivered and all nine should be here by the end of this week. The rest of the turbine parts will arrive during August. Dr Wolsey Barnard, deputy director general of Energy Programmes and Projects at the Department of Energy, welcomed the project as the current electricity supply has to be doubled and old boilers and generators have to be replaced with wind and concentrated solar energy. Barnard said renewable energy is therefore essential and will expand the energy supply through 28 projects, of which 23 are currently under construction. He further announced that on Friday (9 May), a second round of renewable energy proposals brought about the signing of 19 further contracts across the country. He thanked the Theewaterskloof Municipality for its positive support. He said that the company had travelled throughout the country – and not all communities were positive. He added that for Biotherm, it had been a long, hard road. “It is a miracle that it came off”. In Bonnievale, a wind farm proposal was withdrawn after residents voiced serious concern about it. The proponents said in their withdrawal that there was not enough wind for the project to be viable. Stan Wallace, municipal manager of the Theewaterskloof Municipality, also said the Biotherm project in Caledon went well with very few objections. He said he never realised it was so close to commencing. And even though there’s national awareness that South Africa has an energy crisis, he wouldn’t be as excited if it were the opening of a coal mine or nuclear plant. “The real
benefit of wind energy is that the developers invest from a socioeconomic point of view. In the nine months in which this project will be in construction phase, 200 jobs will be created, although not all local, as some jobs are highly skilled and need skilled workers to come from elsewhere.” Three more proposals are known to be on the table for the Overberg area. Biotherm is proposing a second wind farm with six turbines, to be known as the Dassiefontein wind farm, while Caledon Wind will erect 31 turbines across three farms. At Bot River, the Langhoogte project will see a total of 45 turbines erected if approved. Residents have expressed concerned about the possible detrimental effect on tourism, bird life and the aesthetic appeal of the area. Residents are not only concerned about the effects of the tall turbines, but also about the 132 Kv overhead power lines that need to be put up for distribution of the energy being generated. Provincial traffic manager Mbulela Giba, who also attended the ceremony, said the turbine loads are not the biggest that his department has had to escort, “but it will be the biggest structure in Caledon once the turbine is completed; it will be massive”. Giba kindly reminded motorists to cooperate during this period, to be patient and to give way to the load to pass. He asked for cooperation with law-enforcement officers who might request that motorists move over for the huge conveyor trucks carrying their big load. . See page 7 for more photos.
LOAD SHEDDING: (PHOTO ABOVE LEFT AND ABOVE) The foundation rings for the nine turbines that are being delivered at the Klipheuvel-Dassiefontein wind energy facility arrived at the Cape Town Harbour last week. Work on the farm commenced three weeks ago and all nine turbines should be fully operational by July 2014.PHOTO: ANNETTE THERON