S-Af: Wind energy farm will help solve power crisis

The country’s first wind energy farm, opened in Darling on Friday, will help solve the national energy crisis.

And the Western Cape, with optimal renewable resources, is leading the way for green energy.
Despite South Africa’s limited experience with wind energy, the national ministry of minerals and energy is confident the Darling wind farm will lessen the energy burden plaguing the national energy regulator, Eskom.

The wind farm, officially opened by Minerals and Energy Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, will supply energy directly into the Eskom grid. The City of Cape Town also has a long-term power-purchase agreement with the plant.

At the opening ceremony on Friday, Sonjica said the farm would stimulate foreign investment in country’s renewable energy projects. The plant would also help reach national targets of using 10 000 gigaWatts of renewable energy by 2013.

“These are ambitious targets and we must move very fast to reach them. But we are nowhere near exhausting our potential for wind farming. We must exploit our renewable energy resources.”

IOL