The dust has barely settled since the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) declared the Darling wind farm demonstration project – a national wind-farm demonstration project on the Cape east coast – and now a Darling demonstration wind farm project steering committee (DDWFPSC) will be meeting towards the end of this month to finalise the development phase.

“This project will have an effect on the South African energy economy, not only in terms of realising the policies of the White Paper on Energy, but also in terms of forging a path for future sustainable renewable energy projects and capacity-building,” noted DME principal energy officer: renewable energy Andre Otto.

Project initiator Hermann Oelsner of the Darling Independent Power Producer (IPP) first presented his vision to develop the renewable-energy scheme to the DME in February 1997.

Upon establishing the initial financial viability of the venture, the DME, in turn, facilitated the support of international agencies, such as the Danish Corporation for Environment and Development (Danced) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

Oelsner’s company, the Oelsner group, has conducted research and development – totalling more than R2-million – into the demonstration wind-farm.

A prefeasibility study for a ten-megawatt wind-farm, using the modern design of megawatt-class wind turbines on Moedmaag hill, 12 km West of Darling, was concluded. Over 13 months, the Oelsner group, with Eskom and Danced, undertook wind measurements and financial modelling, and compiled an EIA scoping report.

The project’s newfound status as a national demonstration project has, however, meant that these procedures be followed in a transparent and co-ordinated manner, which will now be agreed on by the parties involved through the DDWFPSC.

Once this committee approves the development phase project layout and Danced and GEF make available their loans and grants for the development phase, Otto estimates that it could be completed by 2001.

Subject to the conclusion of a PPP, the plan is to implement the Darling project in at least two phases; the first multimillion-rand phase will furnish it with a peak capacity of five megawatts, a figure which will double with the completion of the project’s second phase.

Otto points out that a capacity of five megawatts is small in international terms, and that the growth and replication of the project will be one of the key factors of the development plan.

The local supply portion of the project is expected to be about 40%, with local manufacturers supplying the towers – which are about 17 storeys high, the foundations, the road works, the cabling and transformers.

Although the project has had its fair share of criticism, Otto is adamant that the formulation of the project development plan will provide key local energy industry and utility representatives with a forum for di scussing many of the issues pertaining to renewable energy in general.