The highly anticipated Waainek Wind Power plant 6km outside Grahamstown on the Highlands road is soon to start generating wind power into electricity.
The highly anticipated Waainek Wind Power plant 6km outside Grahamstown on the Highlands road is soon to start generating wind power into electricity.
The electrical network of Grahamstown is also being given a basic upgrade as part of the same project and this should increase the reliability of electricity supply.
This is according to Innowind construction project manager Sebastiaan Brokken.
According to Brokken, in total, the eight wind turbines will have a 24.6 megawatt installed capacity, which is equivalent to the electricity needs of 16 000 South African homes.
Parts for the turbines from both Denmark and South Africa started arriving in Grahamstown last week and will continue to arrive for the next two weeks. Construction and erection of the eight massive steel towers has already begun on the sites off the Highlands Road.
One tower is fully erected, but due to blustery weather at Waainek (‘windy corner’), the blades could not be attached on the scheduled date, Brokken said. Ironically, the location for the wind farm was chosen for the very reason that construction has been a challenge.
The construction team has to monitor the weather carefully and erect the parts when conditions are most safe.
The estimated date of all the towers to be erected with their blades is mid- to end-June, according to Brokken. Testing will then begin and Brokken says the turbines will most likely be fully operational in August/September.
The life span of the turbines is 20 years. After this, the turbines will be assessed and decisions about the way forward will only be made at the end of the two decades, he says.
Although the main contractor is based in Denmark, South African companies have been subcontracted for the civil, electrical and installation processes of the project, allowing around 200 people from local communities to be employed in the process.
The Department of Energy has set out regulations that wind turbine supplier Vestas is expected to follow and to date, the project has run accordingly, Brokken said. He said all regulations had been adhered to and all the companies involved had met their obligations.
