These large new wind and solar projects will deliver electricity from this month

Several renewable energy projects are set to reach commercial operation this October. Together they will bring a combined 275 megawatts (MW) onto Eskom’s strained grid. This year has been the worst year for load shedding on record.

The wind and solar projects are part of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP) Bid Window 4, of which 27 of these projects were delayed waiting for final sign-offs from Eskom two years ago.

Altogether they can add a total of 2,300MW to Eskom’s struggling grid – provided the wind is blowing and the sun is shining at that time.

The plants are only starting to come online now due to delays brought about by Covid-19 lockdowns. Twelve wind farms went into lockdown during their construction phase and were only allowed to resume activity during late May, having cost the teams over 50 days of work.

Under normal circumstances it takes roughly 18 months to build solar and wind farms, once all the documentation has been signed off.

Here are some of the big projects that will come online this month, with their construction viewed from space.

143MW worth of wind is due to come online in October.

Wind projects are predominantly located along the coastal regions, and the Western Cape has three wind farms presently under construction.

Source : businessinsider