Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
With reference to the 27 new projects signed off for renewable energy producers by Minister Radebe:
Whether any of the new wind, solar, photovoltaic and concentrated solar-power projects will be rolled out in the Western Cape; if not, why not; if so, (a) what areas have been identified for these new projects and (b) how many job opportunities will be created?
The Western Cape has attracted 606 MW (9%) of the total national Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) total procured capacity for the country of 6.4 GW since the start of the procurement programme. Western Cape accounts for 0.6 GW of nationally procured capacity through 14 projects, the majority of them being wind projects. The current breakdown of the projects is as follows Onshore Wind (8), PV (5) and Biomass (1).
Two wind projects from the Western Cape were included in the 27 projects signed off by the Minister Jeff Radebe in April 2018. The details are given below.
|
Project Name |
Location |
Capacity (MW) |
Bid Window |
|
Perdekraal east wind farm |
Touws rivier |
107.76 |
4 |
|
Excelsior Wind Energy Facility |
Swellendam |
31.9 |
4 |
In order for a project to be accepted as part of the REIPPPP process, all development related regulatory processes need to have been completed, including the Environmental Impact Assessment, any land use applications as well as any other applications that are required for the site.
The 27 new projects would stimulate 58 000 new jobs, mostly during construction and mostly in the rural areas of the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape provinces, as well as the North West, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces. There was potential to create a further 1 500 jobs in the manufacturing sector as a direct spin-off from the projects, according to estimates from the REIPPPP process.
