Greentech Lead Africa: South Africa is planning to build a wind farm that has the capacity to generate up to 100 MW of power.
The project worth 2.4-billion-rand (258-million-US-dollar) will be undertaken by Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility, according to the Government Communication and Information System.
Eskom has got the license to build the wind farm from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
Located near Koekenaap in the Western Cape, the wind farm is due to be in full commercial operation by the end of 2014. It has the capacity to produce about 233,000 MWh of energy annually, enough clean energy to power about 97,000 standard homes and avoid nearly 4.7 million tons of carbon emissions over 20 years.
This is the first large-scale renewable energy project from Eskom. The project has been funded by a group of development finance institutions, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, Clean Technology Fund and Agence Francaise de Development.
Eskom has signed power purchase agreements with the independent power producers procured by the Department of Energy in Phases 1 and 2 of the program and stands ready to connect the new producers to the national grid.
South Africa is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in Africa and is among the top 20 emitters of carbon dioxide in the world. In a quest to mitigate global warming, the South African Government has proposed the introduction of carbon tax.
The proposed tax is R120 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent on 40 percent of a company’s emissions, which will increase by 10 percent annually until 2020.