With the signing of the power purchase agreement by the South African utility Eskom, the contract for installation of the Roggeveld wind farm has now come into effect, stated Nordex.

As part of the contract, Nordex will supply its AW125/3150 and AW125/3000 turbines with a total capacity of 147MW for the wind farm.

The contract includes delivery of the turbines, including the towers, which will be produced in South Africa, along with maintenance services for at least 15 years.

Local installation work for the wind farm will start near Laingsburg next year and is expected to create 700 jobs during the construction and operational phases of the wind farm.

Nordex said: “Through a broad based approach this job creation will benefit local communities empowering young South Africans to build their future in clean energy.”

The wind farm will also improve the country’s carbon footprint and will help in offsetting around 24,000 tons of CO2 emissions, had the electricity been generated by using conventional fossil-fuel powered power plants.

In January, Nordex had received three major orders in the US totalling 820MW. The orders were placed in December by two large utilities in the US. Under the contract, the company will supply a total of 263 of its AW125/3000 3MW and AW125/3150 3.15MW turbines for three wind farms in the country.

Recently, Nordex has extended its Delta4000 lineup by introducing the new N133/4.8 turbine for strong-wind sites.

The company has integrated the rotor blade from proven N131 turbine into the Delta4000 series for the N133/4.8.