The Loeriesfontein wind farm has completed the foundations for the 61 wind turbines to be erected at the site.
Situated in the Hantam municipality 60 km north of Loeriesfontein in the Northern Cape, the wind farm will have 61 99-m-high wind turbines erected on 3 453 ha of agricultural land.
When operating at full capacity, it will generate about 563 500 MWh/y of clean renewable energy.
Each turbine base has a diameter of 19 m and comprises over 45 t of reinforced steel.
The project developers made use of one of the world’s lowest quantities of Portland cement in the concrete formulation, with slag, a by-product from the iron industry, used to replace 89% of the cement, resulting in one of the world’s lowest carbon footprints for any wind farm foundation.
“We would like to thank the local workers who have ensured that our project has continued to forge ahead on time, their commitment is greatly appreciated and something that the community as a whole can be proud of,” Loeriesfontein wind farm project manager Leo Quinn said in a statement issued on Wednesday.