June 2019

Hundreds of wind turbine components are making their way from the West Coast’s Port of Saldanha and Atlantis, destined for the 110MW Perdekraal East Wind Farm, situated in the Witzenberg Local Municipality, northeast of Ceres, just two hours from Cape Town.

The first tower sections departed from Atlantis, West Coast of Cape Town on 3 June 2019, with blades, nacelles and other components travelling from the Port of Saldanha. It is expected that all 480 turbine components, weighing around 25 000 tonnes, will reach the wind farm’s construction site close to Ceres, in the Western Cape before end January 2020.

“This is a considerable undertaking as we will have over 480 abnormal loads traversing the country, between now and January next year,” explained Christo Loots, Construction Programme Manager for Perdekraal East Wind Farm.

Transportation of all abnormal loads will adhere strictly to national embargo dates, accordingly transportation of components will not take place at night, school holiday periods, and public holidays. Additionally, all abnormal loads will be accompanied by a rear escort to provide warning to third party road users of the abnormal transport. To assist commuters, the wind farms’ website includes weekly travel schedules.

“Whilst every effort is made to minimise traffic disruptions, we urge road users to exercise extra caution when close to the abnormal loads and obey all traffic management instructions, extra care should be taken if passing the vehicles as the total length is almost 58m,” said Glenn Hobson, Construction Project Manager for Perdekraal East Wind Farm.

Over 80% of the massive turbine foundations have already been completed and the pre-assembly of tower sections is scheduled to commence during the last week of August this year.

The wind farm is currently providing local employment to community members of Ceres, Nduli, Bella Vista and Prince Alfred Hamlet. “Around 70% of the workforce responsible for building the foundations come from these beneficiary communities, as this part of the construction process is the most reliant on labour,” added Hobson.

This project will be connected to the country’s national grid by the third quarter of 2020 and is expected to generate 368.8 GWh/year of clean, renewable power into the country’s grid. This is equivalent to the energy needs of 95 000 homes each year, much needed additional capacity considering the country’s current precarious power supply.

Perdekraal East Wind Farm spans 3 055 hectares and will eliminate approximately 410 000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year compared to traditional fossil fuel power plants. In addition to zero carbon emissions and reduced use of fossil fuels, the country will also benefit from almost nil water consumption that is required during the generation process.

To find out more and get up-to-date transportation schedules, visit:
https://perdekraaleastwind.co.za/transportation-schedule/