Noupoort is a small town in the eastern

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

region of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The town lies 54 km south of

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds ma ...

and 45 km north of Rosmead Junction on the N9 National Route. It was laid out on a portion of the farm Caroluspoort, was administered by a village management board from 1937 and attained municipal status in 1942. Afrikaans for ‘narrow pass’, the name refers to a gap in the Carlton Hills 27 km to the north-west.

Economy

The town revolved principally around the railways and is still used as traction change-over facility from diesel to electric locomotives on the Noupoort-

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

line. It was serviced by Midlandia, a locomotive complex a few kilometres to the south of town, especially during the diesel era up to the late 1900s. Nowadays it links up with the electrified line to

De Aar De Aar is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It has a population of around 42,000 inhabitants. It is the second-most important railway junction in the country, situated on the line between Cape Town and Kimberley. The juncti ...

, part of the main artery for iron ore and manganese exports from the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

through

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

harbour on the south coast. Commercial activity in Noupoort is heavily dependent on railway activity. After a long period of increasingly less demand on the rail network, the town suffered from a drastic decline in local business leading to increasingly dire socioeconomic conditions for the local population. Poverty increased concomitantly with the decline in rail activity.

Wind farms

The Noupoort area is considered a good location for constructing wind farms.https://noupoortwind.co.za/noupoort-wind-farm-officially-declared-operational-by-community-leaders/ This is because of its excellent wind resource, proximity to national roads for transportation wind turbines, favourable construction conditions, straightforward electrical connection into the

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

grid, and low environmental impact of the construction. 10km east of Noupoort is the Noupoort Wind Farm.https://noupoortwind.co.za/noupoort-wind-farm/overview/ It has been fully operational since 2016. Currently in development near Middelburg and Noupoortis the "Koruson 1" cluster of three wind farms (Phezukomoya, San Kraal and Coleskop), each with installed capacities of 140 MW, totalling 420 MW. The project is expected to be commercially operational by the first quarter of 2025.https://www.energize.co.za/article/biggest-wind-farm-in-africa-to-be-completed-by-2025https://edf-re.co.za/construction/koruson-1/https://sawea.org.za/news/edf-renewables-koruson-1-wind-farm-project-progressing-well

Christian Care Centre

In 1992, the Noupoort Christian Care Centre was established with the purpose of drug and alcohol rehabilitation in the area. The Centre took advantage of run down existing infrastructure to build a large centre. The remoteness of Noupoort soon promoted the centre as the last resort for rehabilitation. The town's reaction was initially negative to hosting such a rehabilitation program and the program was received with much suspicion, which proved to be true after multiple abuse cases and deaths which occurred due to negligence.

Climate

References

{{Pixley ka Seme District Municipality Populated places in the Umsombomvu Local Municipality