Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will supply two wind farms in South Africa, including 109 units of onshore wind turbines. The SWT-2.3-108 turbine will each feature a rated capacity of 2.3 MW and a 108 meters diameter rotor.
While the 140-MW Kangnas wind farm project is near Springbok in the Northern Cape, another 110 MW Perdekraal East wind farm is situated 80 kilometers northeast of Ceres in the Western Cape. A 10-year full-service agreement will secure the performance of the wind farms, which will together supply enough clean electricity for approximately 214,000 South African homes.
A consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power was awarded the contracts for the wind farms by the Department of Energy in South Africa as part of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Program (REIPPPP). While Siemens Gamesa will start the supply of the wind turbines in early 2019, the wind farm’s completion is planned for 2020.
“This is the next big milestone for Siemens Gamesa in South Africa and with adding these two wind farms, Siemens Gamesa will have installed more than 850 MW of wind capacity in the country,” said Janek Winand, managing director of Siemens Gamesa South Africa. “We are proud to offer services with a localized team based in Johannesburg with long-lasting experience and determined to generate value for South Africa by creating jobs, supporting local manufacturing, and driving development projects within local communities.”
Present in South Africa since 2014, the accumulated base installed by Siemens Gamesa accounts today for 324 MW of rated capacity, and two wind projects totaling 280 MW under construction.
Owner of the wind farms is the Mainstream Renewable Power consortium. Mainstream is an independent global developer of renewable energy based in Dublin, Ireland, with offices in seven countries with one of their largest in Cape Town, South Africa. Siemens Gamesa has already delivered several projects to Mainstream in the past with a total of 498 MW. The first 138 MW were supplied for the Jeffreys Bay wind farm in 2014, another 80 MW for Noupoort wind farm in 2016, and in 2017 a total of 280 MW were commissioned for Loeriesfontein and Khobab wind farms counting 140 MW each. Siemens Gamesa secured full service agreements of 10 years for Nouport, Khobab, and Loriesfontain and five years for Jeffreys Bay.
“We are very proud to have won further projects, part of the ambitious renewable energy program of South Africa in line with the national commitment to transition to a low carbon economy,” said Enrique Pedrosa, CEO Onshore for South Europe and Africa at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “We are strongly committed to continuously support the country on its path to provide more and more Africans with clean energy and will do everything to contribute to its socio-economic and environmentally sustainable growth.”
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