The 37 square kilometre site in the Eastern Cape is one of South Africa’s largest wind farms and is expected to start supplying the national grid in mid-2014.
The turbines were transported from the Port of Ngqura, 20 kilometres north-east of Port Elizabeth, to the site during July. Two cranes are being used to erect them at a rate of about two a week.
Mark Pickering, Jeffreys Bay wind farm general manager, said: "This is a pivotal point in the construction of this wind farm."
Siemens is supplying, installing and erecting the turbines and will also maintain them for 10 years.
The project is one of the first wind farms to be developed under the South African government’s renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme.
The civil and electrical works, including construction of a new substation, will be completed by a joint venture between South Africa’s Murray & Roberts Construction and Consolidated Power Projects.
A consortium comprising Costa Rica based Globeleq, Mainstream Renewable Power with headquarters in Ireland, savings group Old Mutual, South African Thebe Investment Corporation, electrical engineering contractor Enzani Technologies and South Africa’s Usizo Engineering, as well as a local community trust, is developing the project.
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