Cennergi starts building 138-MW wind park in S Africa

Jul 31, 2014 - Construction work has commenced at the site of the 138-MW Amakhala Emoyeni wind project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, former owner Windlab Ltd confirmed today.

The ZAR-3.5-billion (USD 326m/EUR 244m) scheme is a bit behind schedule because of delays in its connection to a substation of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, Thomas Garner, CEO of the project owner Cennergi, told Engineering News Online. Cennergi is a joint venture between India's Tata Power Co Ltd (BOM:500400) and South African firm Exxaro Resources Ltd (JSE:EXX).

The first of the 56 turbines, of 2.5 MW each, is seen to be installed by June 2015. Garner believes that the whole wind farm will be completed by mid-2016, according to the report, also posted on Windlab's website. The machines will be made by Germany’s Nordex SE (ETR:NDX1), but half of the other content like wind towers will be manufactured in South Africa.

The Amakhala Emoyeni scheme is developed under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Its financial close occurred in May 2013. It is 95-owned by Cennergi which bought the project rights in 2011 from Windlab. The Cookhouse and Bedford Community Trusts own the rest of the shares equally.

Garner also noted in the report that Cennergi is still optimistic about finishing the installation of 2,000 MW of renewables and conventional power production capacity by the end of the decade.

(ZAR 10 = USD 0.933/EUR 0.697)

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