"People come here for the view and the space. The last thing they want to see is another machine," says Brother John Forbis of Mariya uMama Wethemba Monastery regarding plans to erect two 80 metre wind turbines on the land surrounding the monastery.
"People come here for the view and the space. The last thing they want to see is another machine," says Brother John Forbis of Mariya uMama Wethemba Monastery regarding plans to erect two 80 metre wind turbines on the land surrounding the monastery.
"It is important that people understand we are not against alternative sources of energy but we have been told by the relevant authorities that we will be most affected by the structures. We have real concerns about the effects the wind farm will have on us here at the monastery," he said.
Forbis said the main concern of the five resident monks is the "sight pollution" which would be caused by the "gigantic blades" of the wind turbines.
Situated in the hills of the Waainek area just outside Grahamstown, the wind turbines will be clearly visible from the monastery’s church, and Forbis said he is "very distressed" about this. "They will completely wreck the sightline.
When people are praying here they will look out onto huge machines and this will be very disruptive," he said. Forbis said that while the monastery, which runs a bed and breakfast and a retreat which is open to the public, aims to provide a peaceful environment for people and the wind farm would jeopordise this.
"This is a place of peace and we’re concerned about the effects the structures will have on people’s spirits. The human spirit needs to be nourished and we aim to provide a place where that can happen. The wind farm could threaten all that," he said.
In a recent letter of protest to Coastal Environmental Services (CES), the company in charge of conducting an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Waainek area, Brother Timothy Jolley highlighted his concerns about the effects the turbines will have on "the ecology of the human spirit".
Jolley said that like any ecology, "the human spirit needs a healthy environment in which to flourish and as we are seeing, we humans will wither if our environment is polluted or destroyed."
In addition to concerns about the visual disruptions, Jolley said he has yet to receive clarity on whether or not Eskom will buy the electricity generated from the farm.
"As I understand the principal goal of the project is to produce electricity for sale to Eskom but I also understand that at present there are no regulations requiring Eskom to purchase the electricity," he said.
Additionally, Forbis said that he has yet to receive a guarentee that if Eskom do so Grahamstown will have access to it. Forbis also said that while there is talk about the advantages such electricity production could have for Grahamstown, the advantages are entirely dependent upon the upgrading and maintenance of the city’s electrical grid.
"So everything actually depends on whether the municipality will upgrade the electricity grid and there is no guarentee that that will ever happen," he said.
Forbis and Jolley said they are also concerned about how the bird life in the surrounding area could be affected by the turbines. "Studies have been done about the effects on birds and in some cases where a wind farm has been created the entire bird population has left the area.
We have been very conscious about removing alien vegetation and now we have a lot of indigenous plants and it’s bringing the birds back to the area. The last thing we want is for the birds to be damaged or chased away," he said.
Although a public meeting was held in July during which members of the public were briefed about the plans and possible implications of the plans, Forbis and Jolley said there "wasn’t a forum for us to respond or resist" and that certain concerns that were voiced by members of the public were "dismissed".
"It seems as though the planners are directing all their attention to how the wind farm will affect those close to town but they have paid no attention to how we will be affected," said Forbis.
