Coega becomes a wind-driven power station

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Coega no white elephant after all

Ships are using the Nqura harbour a...

Belgians will fund the R1.2bn cost.

JOHANNESBURG - The skyline of the fledgling Port of Coega north of Port Elizabeth starts changing on Tuesday as construction begins on the first of twenty five 100-metre-high wind turbines.

The first turbine will be able to generate electricity for the first game of the World Cup at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in just a month.

Electrawinds, a major windfarm builder based in Belgium, will fund the beginnings of the windfarm itself, says local manager Emil Unger.

He adds that Electrawinds will supply at Eskom's Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (Refit) of R1.25/kwh.

Each turbine puts out 1.8MW of power at a windspeed of 7.5 metres a second (27km/h), which is the average for the area. Each turbine puts out enough energy to power about 1.700 households

The wind turbine is a VESTAS V90 with a 95-metre tower and a 90-metre rotor.

Luc Desender, Managing Director of Electrawinds says the company has already laid the foundation work for the wind turbine. This consisted of the placement of the embedment unit and the pouring of concrete.

When completed the wind farm will generate 45MW of green power for the eastern Cape. The turbines will be built on shore.

The first wind turbine units arrived in South Africa from Denmark on Sunday, May 9 2010 on board the Red Cedar at the Port of Ngqura. A R70m special crane will be used to erect the wind turbines. It is one of only seven of its kind in the world.

Electrawinds seems to have stolen a lead on Mainstream, the Irish windfarm builder, which has declared itself happy with the Refit rate but wants a connection to the grid and an assurance from government that it will be paid. Mainstream plans to build wind farms at Jeffrey's Bay and at Saldanha Bay. Dutch and Spanish firms are also eager to get into the SA windfarm business.

Write to David Carte: davidcarte@moneyweb.co.za