Just days after the Darling Wind Farm came online, an announcement out of South Africa has it that a public and private sector grouping has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to construct an 80 MW wind farm in the cape. The cost of the new wind farm has been estimated at about R850 million (about $112 million).
The grouping includes the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, along with Seeland Development Trust, the Saldanha Municipality, Oxfam UK, and Genesis Eco-Energy.
The new project has been coined the St. Helena Bay Wind Farm, complementing its proposed location in St. Helena Bay. This area is reported to have an average wind speed of six meters per second.
The project announcement came at a press conference in Cape Town. Speaking at the conference, Davin Chown of Genesis Eco-Energy said that the wind farm would be located on a 926-hectare farm owned by the Seeland community. It was also revealed at the conference that the Group had not yet determined the number of wind turbines would be required though it was mentioned that wind turbines with a generation capacity of between 1.8 MW and 2.5 MW would most likely be specified.