Acciona Energía and its partners have commissioned the 138MW Gouda wind power plant in the municipality of Drakenstein around 100km north-west of Cape Town, South Africa.
The project features 46 wind turbines of Acciona, which is capable of generating around 423GWh of clean electricity per year, meeting energy requirement of 200,000 South African households.
The Gouda project is owned by the company-led consortium comprising South African infrastructure firm Aveng, Soul City Broad-Based Empowerment Company (SCBBEC) and a community development entity Local Community Trust.
Acciona Energía CEO Rafael Mateo said: "The start-up of the Gouda wind farm visualizes our commitment to the development of renewable energies in South Africa, to which we wish to contribute through latest-generation wind and photovoltaic plants and efficient, competitive wind turbines of our 3 MW platform."
Expected to eliminate 406 million tons of CO2 emissions, the power plant is said to be the Acciona’s first wind farm in the country.
Acciona also operates 94.3MWp Sishen photovoltaic plant in the country since 2014.
The Gouda and Sishen projects secured the Department of Energy approval in the second round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) which intends at increasing the renewable energy use in the South African energy mix.
The company plans to bid in the next rounds of the REIPPPP in an effort to boost its activity and implement other renewable projects in South Africa.
Image: The Gouda wind farm features 46 turbines of Acciona Windpower technology. Photo: courtesy of Acciona.