Impofu Wind Power Farms Complex
Wind farm complex in South Africa
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Related on Lably
Through Oxygen and Environmental impact assessment
Location
The three power stations, "Impofu East Wind Power Station", "Impofu West Wind Power Station" and "Impofu North Wind Power Station" are located in Impofu, in Kouga Municipality, Sarah Baartman District, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Humansdorp, the nearest large town is located approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi), by road, west of Gqeberha, the nearest large city. This is about 664 kilometres (413 mi), by road, east of Cape Town, the second largest city in South Africa.
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Overview
The power stations complex is owned and is under development by Enel Green Power, the 100 percent subsidiary of the Italian energy conglomerate Enel. The design calls for three adjacent wind farms, with a total of 57 wind turbines. Each turbine is rated at 5.8 MW. A total of eight high-voltage substations and approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) of 132kV high voltage overhead transmission line will deliver the 330 MW of power generated here, to a location where it will enter the Eskom grid. The power stations occupy 12 pieces of land and the power line sits on 87 separate pieces of real estate, all leased from local farmers. In Secunda, the power supplied is expected to power the 16 "air separation units" (ASUs) operated by the French industrial group Air Liquide, to produce oxygen.
Development
Red Cap Energy (Pty) Limited (RCEPL), a South African renewable energy development company based in Cape Town, has been working on this project for at least 10 years before construction began. In 2017, RCEPL hired Zutari, a South African consulting engineering firm to carry out environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for the three Impofu wind farms, and for a 120 km-long 132 kV overhead high-voltage power line to Gqeberha.
Construction costs
The construction budget is estimated at ZAR:9 billion (approx. US$480 million).