Loeriesfontein Wind Farm has completed the installation of its 61 wind turbines, while achieving over 1.25-million hours without a single lost-time incident, on March 1.
“This is a hugely significant health and safety construction milestone for one of the country’s largest wind farms, so considering the sheer scale of the project, the multiple level of activities and the complexities involved, it is an impressive achievement,” said Loeriesfontein project manager Christo Loots.
The wind farm completed the lifting of all its wind turbine generators ahead of expectation and under six months.
About 70% of Loeriesfontein’s workforce was from the local community, which benefited from the skills development programmes.
“This work experience will no doubt benefit Khobab Wind Farm, the adjacent wind farm, which will commence with its first turbine lifting early next month,” said Loots.
The 100-m-tall Siemens wind turbines installed at Loeriesfontein took between one and three days to construct, assuming favourable weather.
The three 53 m blades, made from fibreglass-reinforced epoxy, are connected to the rotor at ground level before being lifted to the top of the turbine.