Following the installation of three of its nine Sinovel SL3000 3 MW wind turbines, the 27 MW MetroWind Van Stadens wind farm project, in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality (NMBM), is on track to begin cold commissioning in October.

This phase would involve extensive testing of individual components of the turbines and power generation system prior to the delivery of power to the grid from February 1, 2014.

Basil Read subsidiary Basil Read Energy, a 23% project shareholder, said at a site visit on Wednesday – some eight months into construction – that the first two sections of the remaining six turbines had been installed and that all civil works on site had been completed.

This included roads, nine turbine platforms, the main control building and a storeroom.

In addition, Basil Read, which was awarded the project’s R475-million engineering, procurement and construction contract, noted that the electrical reticulation of the farm was close to completion and the transformers were in the process of being delivered and installed.

The primary NMBM switchgear had also been delivered to site and was currently being tested.

With an installed generation capacity of 27 MW, the R550-million MetroWind Van Stadens wind farm project is projected to have a 20-year life span and deliver 80 000 MWh/y of electricity.

“This will supply between 5 000 and 6 000 households with power,” Basil Read CEO Marius Heyns said at the site visit.

“We are proud that the nearby communities of Shamrock and Witteklip have already benefited from this project through the installation of solar-powered area lighting,” he added.   

Once completed, the project would meet almost 50% of the NMBM target of generating 10% of electricity from renewable energy, and offset 80 000 t of yearly carbon dioxide emissions.

The MetroWind Van Stadens wind farm is one of eight wind farms to be developed under the South African government's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.