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Wind Power News: South Africa
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Storm brews over R2.5bn wind project initiative
A massive R2,5bn wind turbine farm planned for the Haga-Haga, Morgan Bay and Kei Mouth coastal area is expected to create 300 jobs in construction and 50 permanent jobs later. But the bigger impact will be that a large amount of clean energy – 150Mw – will be generated in the area will be good for economic development, according to social impact assessment researcher Kerryn Desai. Some tourism operators in the area have supported the project, but are opposing it . . . Complete story »
Cape vulture flies into trouble again
A tagged vulture was found with a maggot-infested wing in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday – a year after being electrocuted by a transmission line. The Cape Vulture is facing a decline in population numbers and dozens of the birds are killed on transmission lines wind turbines. Kerri Wolter‚ CEO of the conservation organisation‚ VulPro‚ said that about 73 vultures were injured every year and the number was increasing. “About 90% of those injured vultures are from power line collisions. . . . Complete story »
New threat to vultures
The resurrection of a controversial proposed wind power project in the Lesotho Highlands could wipe out the critically-endangered Bearded vulture and endangered Cape vulture. This is the fear of BirdLife SA, which warns that likely collisions with the blades of around 40 large wind turbines at the planned site near Leteng-La-Terae could push the region’s iconic Bearded vulture population to extinction. Situated to the west of the Maloti Drakensberg Transboundary World Heritage Site, it sits in the heart of vital . . . Complete story »
Wind farms can be deadly
Johannesburg – The monumental wind turbines sprouting up across South Africa’s landscape are cutting down rare and endangered bird species that have to run the gauntlet of kilometres of airspace filled with deadly, moving blades. Large swaths of country covered in turbines, such as in the Jeffreys Bay area in the Eastern Cape, are a result of rapid wind energy development since 2011 as part of government’s renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme. So far, this has resulted in . . . Complete story »
South Africa: Eskom explains wind turbine video
Eskom has clarified misconceptions created by a video clip on social media depicting the decommissioning of one of three wind turbines at the Klipheuwel demonstration plant near Cape Town. The power utility on Wednesday set the record straight on the alleged ‘broken and falling’ turbine depicted on social media. “This is an acceptable method that can be employed for the disposal of a wind turbine structure that has reached the end of its economic life-cycle. The turbine in question was . . . Complete story »
Proposed windfarm threat to conservancy
InnoWind (Pty) Ltd., the owners of Grahamstown’s wind farm have recently proposed an extension to the existing wind energy project with nine new turbines on the opposite side of Howison’s Poort to the existing installation. This came to light in a presentation recently made to the Makana Council by InnoWind’s Project Developer Daluvuyo Ntsebeza. The proposal plans six turbines along the mountain ridge to the south of Featherstone Kloof, on the Southern Commonage, and three more on Glenthorpe Farm. Key . . . Complete story »
Untrue renewable points
Every point made by Dirk de Vos and Nicole Loser for renewable energy and against “base load power” is not only wrong but the inverse of the truth (Need for base load power is a pro-Eskom fabrication, February 24). Eskom’s “opposition to renewables” is because of the simple fact that the renewable electricity it is forced to buy is ruinously expensive and horribly unreliable. Eskom’s half-year report, ending September 30 2016, shows it is compelled to buy bad wind and solar . . . Complete story »
Renewable power ‘just raises Eskom’s costs’
Public opinion may back an increasing proportion of renewable energy being plugged into South Africa’s power grid, but Eskom CEO Brian Molefe says further independent renewable power production will be impractical and what he really needs is nuclear energy. Molefe on Friday was defending a decision by Eskom this week to stop signing new agreements with independent power producers. According to Molefe, the push for renewables from the industry was based on the integrated resource plan of 2011 which was . . . Complete story »
Cape Town professor’s research picks holes in claims about wind energy
Professor Philip Lloyd works at the Energy Institute at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He recently sent me a copy of a paper he had written, entitled ‘An Assessment of the Impact of Wind Energy on Energy Supply’. The paper addresses a number of concerns that power system engineers have with wind energy. Putting aside the visual and noise impact of wind turbines (and bird and bat strike), there is the matter that wind energy is often referred to . . . Complete story »
Green or not, problems with wind turbines continue
It is regarded as heresy, only to be whispered furtively in dark corners, to say there are significant problems with wind generators. When they are raised, they tend to be brushed aside by governments that enjoy spending taxpayers’ money on subsidising their construction, and, naturally by those who benefit from their sale and construction. So fixed has the idea of alternate “clean” energy become that half-page ads are placed in newspapers to brag about it. Those who believe wind generators . . . Complete story »
