Wind farm: another first for Mossel Bay

Francesca Pisacane, Principal Business Development Engineer for Forster Wheeler, and JB Snyman of Mossel Bay Energy IPP (Pty) Ltd are very excited about the proposed wind farm, soon to be erected close to Mossel Bay.

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay may soon boast one of the wind power plants that soon will dot the South African countryside. Growth in the South African economy has resulted in the rapid depletion of the country's excess electricity generation capacity, especially during peak demand times.

This has led Eskom to commit to an expansion programme that is hoped to more than double capacity over the next 20 years.

With the Eskom electricity supply under constant threat, and regular price hikes a contentious issue, the authorities have indicated a clear need for the development of alternative, eco-friendly sources of energy.

The Mossel Bay development is spearheaded by Carlo van Wyk of MVD-e/CVW Pty Ltd, which has formed a joint venture with international energy giant Foster Wheeler. Together they have been working on the dream of a Mossel Bay wind farm for the past eight years.

Forster Wheeler Italiana, which, together with Foster Wheeler Properties Pty Ltd, forms the majority shareholder of the project company, has 15 years of hands-on experience in wind farm energy production in Italy and Europe. Foster Wheeler Italiana is currently developing wind farms in Italy and abroad with a generation capacity of 400MW and it owns and operates wind farms exceeding 100MW capacity. MVD-e/CVW is a Mossel Bay based electrical engineering consultant which is experienced in the local and regional electrical infrastructure.

Francesca Pisacane, the Principal Business Development Engineer for Foster Wheeler Italiana, says Mossel Bay is ideally situated for the wind farm. Firstly, excellent relations have been established with the local and other authorities and the participating, visionary farmers who have made available land suitable to the project. This land will remain the property of the farmers and will allow the farmers to continue their own farming practises, as the soil use for the wind farm is limited to about 1% of the total area.

Once the project has run its course, the wind farm will be dismantled and the land will be completely restored.
The availability of the fully operational Mossel Bay harbour also makes the project more viable, as much of the infrastructure will be moved through the harbour, minimising the carbon footprint in the process.-
Mossel Bay Energy IPP (Pty) Ltd has six years of data on prevailing wind in the area. JB Snyman of MVD-e/CVW Pty Ltd says the consistency of the wind is far more important than the force of the wind, and that the turbines work at optimum at a wind speed of a mere 7m/s.

The availability of the Eskom power lines in the wind farm area makes the project even more viable, as the Eskom grid can be easily accessed to upload the electricity developed at the wind farm.

Should the Mossel Bay Energy IPP bid be successful in October, it may take up to 18 months to have the plant fully operational from the date of the achievement of the financial close expected in July 2013, as per Department of Energy requirements.
The facility will cover an area of approximately 1 370ha located on six property portions on the farm Welbedacht 215 and Bergsig Game Farm (Bergsig Game Farm 356/0, 215/13, 353/0, 365/0 and Welbedacht 215/3, 215/15), approximately 10km west of Mossel Bay and 5km north-east of the PetroSA gas-to-liquid refinery, situated just north of the N2 Highway.

The Mossel Bay wind energy facility will consist of 30 to 40 turbines, depending on the model and size of turbine selected. The facility will have a maximum generating output of approximately 80MW.

The turbines considered consist of a vertical tower, hub and three blades. They have a hub height of 100m as the maximum, with a maximum rotor diameter of 105m and a total maximum height at blade tip of approximately 153m.

Pisacane stresses the fact that local contractors will benefit from this development as they intend to use local expertise to develop, build and maintain the plant. Local employees will be trained to run and maintain the plant under the necessary international supervision. This education will be an ongoing project, leaving Mossel Bay with much-needed increased capacity.

The association with Foster Wheeler ensures that the latest state-of-the-art technology for the turbines is used in this proposed project.

Pisacane explains that product development with regards to the turbines used has largely been exhausted, and engineers nowadays mostly tweak existing designs for optimised production.

Having the wind farm at Mossel Bay will also have the added advantage of increasing the stability on the national electricity grid.

The environmental efficiency of the plant is of paramount importance to the developers. Coastal & Environmental Services (CES) have been appointed by Mossel Bay Energy IPP (Pty) Limited as Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment process. Internationally, Foster Wheeler Italiana has received many international environmental awards, the South Africa equivalent being the ISO9001 and ISO 14001 certification.

All Foster Wheeler operating wind farms voluntarily adhere to the most stringent environmental, health and safety standards available, and have their environmental management systems (EMAS) are constantly monitored and audited on an yearly basis (ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications).

South Africa's Energy Minister, Dipuo Peters, officially confirmed on Thursday, 19 July that the deadline for the financial closure of the first 28 renewable energy projects, named as preferred bids in December, had been extended until the end of July.
Mossel Bay Energy IPP (Pty) Ltd, however, tends to bid in the next available bid window, which officially opens in October.
The minister indicated that some bidders were battling to meet the 'stringent' requirements of financial institutions, while others were dealing with environmental appeals processes, or working on ways to meet the jobs, local content and community development commitments outlined in their bids.

It was important to ensure that as many of the 28 projects licensed by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) as possible moved towards implementation to bolster confidence in the REIPPP process.

"This window must give us the requisite result to convince ourselves, to convince industry and to convince South Africans that this is the route to go," Peters said.

However, Peters said that any capacity not taken up by the first 28 bidders would have to be included during window three, which was initially scheduled for August, but which was likely to be delayed as a result of the first window schedule change.
Through the REIPPP, government is seeking to procure 3 725 MW of capacity, to be introduced into South Africa's power generation mix between 2014 and 2016.

A confidential document obtained by Reuters recently, stated that Eskom had applied to raise tariffs by 14.6% a year over five years. The tariff increases could reach a yearly average of 19% over the same period, depending on if government implemented a carbon tax or built new plants beyond those currently under construction, the Reuters story stated. Eskom was granted three years of 25% power tariff hikes in 2010.

- Mossel Bay Advertiser