The Garob Wind Power Station is an operational

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

plant in

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 power station was developed and is owned by

Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...

, the Italian manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas infrastructure, through its subsidiary ''Enel Green Power of South Africa'' (EGPRSA). Construction of this wind farm started in April 2019 and achieved commercial operation in December 2021. The energy generated at this wind farm is sold to the South African national electricity utility company

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 ...

, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

Location

The power station is located near the former mining town of Copperton, in

Siyathemba Local Municipality Siyathemba Municipality () is a local municipality within the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Main places The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places: Politic ...

, in the Karoo Region, in

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

. This is approximately , by road, northwest of

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 ...

, the district headquarters of

Pixley ka Seme District Municipality The Pixley ka Seme District Municipality (; ) is one of the five districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Pixley ka Seme is De Aar. As of 2011, a majority (77%) of its 186,351 residents speak Afrikaans as a first la ...

, where the power station is located. Copperton is located about , by road, southwest of

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, the capital city of Northern Cape Province.

Overview

The concession for this wind farm was awarded to Enel in 2015, as part of the fourth round of the ''Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme'' (REIPPPP), of the Republic of South Africa. Enel signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Eskom. During construction, the pylons that support the wind turbines were manufactured on-site, out of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

and

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

, instead of metal as is the usual method. This provided business for local suppliers and contractors.

Nordex Nordex SE is a European company that designs, sells and manufactures wind turbines, founded in 1985 and headquartered in the German city of Rostock with production in Germany, Brazil, India, Mexico, Poland and Spain. According to the company, it ...

, the European supplier of the wind turbines, operates and maintains the power station on behalf of the owners.

Funding

Funding for this renewable energy infrastructure was sourced from two South African financial houses, namely

Absa Group Absa Group Limited, commonly known and stylized simply as absa (formerly the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) until 2005 and Barclays Africa Group Limited until 2018), is a multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial ...

and

Nedbank Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group. Headquarter ...

. The total cost of construction is reported to be in excess of €200 million (approx. US$225.7 million).

Other considerations

It is calculated that the wind farm adds 573GWh to the South African national grid every year. This power station saves the country the emission of 600,000 tons of annually. At the peak of construction an estimated 511 people were employed at the site. This is the 10th renewable power station developed by Enel, under the South African REIPPP program. The list of those power stations, with installed capacity exceeding 800 megawatts, is listed in references 1 and 2 below.

References

External links