WIND TO POWER WORLD CUP

Eastern Cape wind farm to supply power to World Cup stadium
Christy van der Merwe (w/Mariaan Webb), 11 May 2010 (Creamer Media’s Engineering News)

"The 25-turbine Coega wind farm project in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) in the Eastern Cape, was officially launched by Energy Minister Dipuo Peters…[and] the first turbine…[is expected to be] completed in time to provide energy for the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium during the 2010 FIFA World Cup - free of charge…

"Working within a very tight time schedule, [a spokesman for Belgian developer] Electrawinds explained that the first wind turbine units arrived [at a South African port] from Denmark on May 9…[Each] turbine is a Vestas V90 with a 95-meter tower and a 90-meter rotor…The independent power producer [will] use a custom R70-million crane from Vanguard to erect the wind turbines."

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"Electrawinds…has already laid the foundation work for the wind turbine. This consisted of the placement of the embedment unit and the pouring of some 620 cubic meters of concrete…Electrawinds has invested R1,2-billion in the project…[Each] of the 25 wind turbines [will] have a capacity of 1,8 MW, which translates into an annual yield of 5,7-million kilowatt hours, which was said to be enough energy to power about 1 700 households…Completion was scheduled for 2011, and once completed the wind farm would supply the NMBM with about 45 MW of green energy.

"The electricity generated by the wind farm would be fed into the national grid and would be distributed by NMBM to households within the area…Electrawinds [is] in the process of completing a power-purchase agreement…although the company [cannot yet] divulge the buyer…"

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"…[Coega is] the first commercial wind project in South Africa and Electrawinds' first operational project outside Europe…Overall, 133 indirect construction jobs, 55 construction jobs and 12 permanent jobs would be created during the building of the wind farm… 50 jobs were created during the construction phase of the foundation…[It will] provide the Eastern Cape province, and specifically the Nelson Mandela Metro, with electricity security as well as access to the latest technology in renewable energy.

"The electricity produced by Electrawinds wind turbines would not be in competition with Eskom, as wind energy was not a replacement for Eskom, but rather an alternative energy…"