The first of 1 098 wind turbine components are en route from the deepwater Port of Ngqura, 20 km north-east of Port Elizabeth, to Loeriesfontein, in the Northern Cape, which will soon become home to the largest expanse of wind turbines on the African continent, announced Khobab and Loeriesfontein wind farms on Monday.

The 122 wind turbines at Khobab and Loeriesfontein, which together span 6 653 ha, would produce a combined output of 280 MW. 

“This massive logistical undertaking equates to over 1 000 loads that will travel to site over the next sixteen months,” said Khobab Wind Farm project manager Kevin Foster, adding that this was “by far” the most expansive transportation programme that the industry had seen to date. “The operation will cover over 2.5-million kilometres and move an astounding 42 000 t of wind turbine components,” he added.

LOGISTICAL FEAT
Trucks with oversized trailers, in varying lengths of up to 57 m, would deliver the various components to the wind farms between April 2016 and August 2017.  

On Monday, the tower sections were on a five-day journey of 1 396 km to Loeriesfontein on the N1 via Worcester, Laingsburg and Beaufort West. The 53-m-long blades, together with other components, would travel another 1 158 km along the N10 from the Port of Ngqura to Graaff-Reinet, Beaufort West and on to the site.

All loads were travelling to site as single consignments with a rear escort at all times. “The turbine blades have both a front and rear escort, in addition to a police escort,” explained Loeriesfontein Wind Farm project manager Leo Quinn. 

Escorts, an important safety measure, would provide warning to third-party road users of the oncoming abnormal transport, which were typically prohibited from travelling at night, on public holidays or during school holidays.

“We are pleased to be working with an experienced team who just recently successfully transported around 315 components across the country for Noupoort Wind Farm,” said Foster.

The wind turbines for the project were supplied by Siemens, while the transportation campaign was managed by DHL and ALE.

LOCALLY MANUFACTURED
Most of the wind turbine tower sections were being manufactured by GRI Towers South Africa in Atlantis, Western Cape. To meet demand, GRI Towers’ R300-million facility underwent a major expansion to allow for a 20% increase in production output. 

“This expansion was funded by foreign direct investment into South Africa. Further, local employment has been upped, along with a training and skills transfer programme to teach scarce skills,” explained Quinn.

The locally manufactured sections mean that Khobab and Loeriesfontein wind farms had been able to achieve local content commitments exceeding 40% of the project’s total value.  “Local content has a vital role to play in the long-term growth of the renewable energy sector and its positive impact on the country,” noted Quinn.

Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa Wind Power and Renewables head Janek Winand highlighted the project as a “significant milestone” for the company. “We are set to complete the project on time so we can start feeding the much-needed clean electricity into the national grid,” he added.

The Loeriesfontein and Khobab wind farms were owned by a consortium dedicated to providing clean, renewable energy. Lekela Power, a 60:40 joint venture between global private equity firm Actis and global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable power, was a pan-African renewable energy platform which aimed to provide 1 000 MW of wind and solar power by 2018.