Enel’s South African 140MW Oyster Bay wind farm will generate about 568GWh of clean electricity, when operational in 2021
Image: Enel starts building 140MW wind farm in South Africa. Photo: Courtesy of VIVIANE MONCONDUIT/Pixabay.
Enel’s South African subsidiary Enel Green Power RSA has started construction of the 140MW Oyster Bay wind farm, located in the Kouga Local Municipality, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
Enel investing £159m on the Oyster Bay wind farm in South Africa
For the wind farm, Enel is investing about €180m (£159m). When operational in the second quarter of 2021, the wind farm will generate about 568GWh of clean energy annually.
The wind farm is supported by 20-year power supply agreement with South African energy utility Eskom, as part of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) tender. Enel was awarded the tender in April 2015, with five wind projects, totaling 700MW of capacity, in the fourth round.
Enel Green Power head Antonio Cammisecra said: “With the start of construction of the fourth wind project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, we are continuing to contribute to the socio-economic development of the area through our zero-emission energy and initiatives to create shared value.
“These initiatives include the innovative model implemented at the Oyster Bay construction site, as well as the sustainability activities focused on scientific and technical education in the area around the project.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to harness South Africa’s abundance of renewable resources, creating a virtuous circle of sustainable energy generation, education and development.”
Enel Green Power also stated that it will use new tools and methods during the wind farm’s construction such as advanced digital platforms and software solutions to monitor and offer remote support for site activities and plant commissioning.
The processes and tools are expected to provide accurate and reliable data collection, improve quality of construction, while facilitating communication between on-site and off-site teams.
In May 2017, Enel started operations of the 111MW Gibson Bay wind farm, located in the Kouga Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of the country.
The wind farm generates about 420GWh of clean electricity per year, which is enough to power about 131,000 South African homes, while avoiding nearly 383,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions entering the atmosphere annually.