Paving SA’s renewable future

The fourth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme has proved busy for Concor, which is now completing its 10th wind farm project.

According to Joe Nell, contracts director, Concor, the company was awarded five projects during Round 4, and was able to successfully implement four of them at the same time, mainly under EPC contracts.

“This performance is testament to our highly skilled and experienced teams on the ground, and our strong balance sheet to apply all necessary resources to each project’s particular demands,” says Nell.

The company’s contracts began with one of the country’s first wind farms – the 60-turbine project at Jeffreys Bay. More projects followed near Noupoort, De Aar and Loeriesfontein – often remote and with challenging conditions related to geology or weather. Four projects were then run concurrently, namely Perdekraal East in the Witzenberg district, Excelsior near Swellendam, Golden Valley near Cookhouse, and Kangnas near Springbok.

“The most recent wind farm is Roggeveld, in the mountains between Matjiesfontein and Sutherland, where cold conditions and snowfalls forced the site’s closure on numerous occasions,” says Nell. “This

ABOVE Preparing the levels to cast a wind turbine base at Perdekraal East Wind Farm ABOVE LEFT Casting of foundation WTG 6 at Roggeveld Wind Farm created its own challenges, which added to the experience of our teams.”

The wind farms Concor has constructed now contribute over 1 000 MW of electricity to South Africa’s grid capacity.