Home - Latest Posts
Tsitsikamma community to benefit from wind turbine project - 9 months ago
Green energy is the new frontier, and with electricity under pressure, the project is part of the community's solution. Phase one is a 40-megawatt commercial wind farm, estimated at R1 billion. The turbines will generate more than 20 megawatts of electricity per hour. Currently, the farming community has no electricity and few jobs.
R1bn Tsitsikamma Wind Energy Plan - 9 months ago
A R1-BILLION wind energy project with major benefits for a poverty-stricken Mfengu community was launched in Tsitsikamma yesterday (November 30th, 2009. The proposed Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm will be established on 7000ha of the farm Wittekleibosch, bought in 1994 by the government to settle the Mfengu families, who had been removed forcibly to Ciskeis Keiskammahoek under apartheid. The aim is that the community will benefit from a share of the R14-million annual revenue, which will come from selling the electricity generated to Eskom at an agreed buy-back rate of R1,25 a kilowatt.
40-MW wind-power project planned for Tsitsikamma - 9 months ago
A memorandum of understanding was signed on Monday at Wittekleibosch in the Eastern Cape between partners hoping to develop the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm (TCWF) project. The project would aim to generate about 40 MW of wind power by 2013, and would be worth about R1-billion. Other key partners in the project include: the Eastern Cape Community Wind Energy Development Association (ECCWEDA); the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas; the Danish Export Credit Fund, which would provide debt credits; the Danish energy utility Dong Energy, which would procure carbon credits from the project; and Danish wind laboratory Riso, which was responsible for wind measuring and mapping.
Poor to benefit from wind farm - 9 months ago
Port Elizabeth - A wind farm that will bring an estimated investment of R1bn to a poor community in the Kou-Kamma municipality in the Eastern Cape could deliver its first renewable energy to the national power grid by 2013. The Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm is expected to produce 40MW and have about 20 wind turbines. Turbines with a capacity of 2MW and about 80m high are being planned, says Jeff Cheong, head of business development at wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas.
Tisitsikamma Community Wind Farm Launch - 9 months ago
November 30th 2009 marks a milestone achievement for the Eastern Cape Community when the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm will be launched. The Launch will take place at Wittekleibosch Site Office of the Tsitsikamma Development Trust. It will also serve to stamp the cooperation and understanding agreements with major players of the wind industry, including the turbine Champion, Vestas, DONG Energy of Denmark and the global wind energy leaders themselves, Denmark, represented by their Foreign Ministry.
The real price of energy - 9 months ago
The recent request by Eskom to the National Energy Regulator of SA to increase tariffs by 45% every year for the next three years has been met with outrage, shock and a flurry of impotent online petitions in a bid to stop it. But the price hike is actually good news. The price that Eskom charges does not factor in the cost to our health and the cost to our environment. Fossil fuels are dirty fuels. Burning coal and oil pollutes the air, pollutes water and creates health problems. Burning fossil fuels emits carbon and other greenhouse gases and changes the climate of the earth. A move to a low-carbon economy has significant benefits, including lower healthcare costs, lower air and water pollution, energy security, job creation and a more stable economy. It could also save humankind from extinction.
If the world has been stripped, how will we eat, will education matter? - 10 months ago
Making connections between issues and the impact they have on people is often the missing link. If they can understand that not taking care of our water resources is a food security issue, it becomes something that matters on a personal and practical level. "Social and economic issues are environmental issues because if the world has been stripped, how will we eat, how will education matter?" "Telling people to switch off their appliances is all good and well, but it's not enough. The issue is not saving energy - it's the way people are consuming, and that is not being addressed."
Weekly intelligence brief: October 19-26 - 10 months ago
26 October 2009 This week’s news round-up features Siemens, EDF Energy Renewables, Longpark, Scottish Power Renewables, Dong Energy, Garrad Hassan, Vestas and QinetiQ. US DOE and Siemens to collaborate on research UK hits 4 GW mark of installed capacity Garrad Hassan to advise on Bard Offshore US wind industry installs 1.6 GW in Q3 Breakthrough in stealth turbine technology Research scheduled on wind turbine radar interference Universities receive DOE funding for research Scottish Forestry Commission seeks wind project partners
The cost of inaction on climate change too high - 10 months ago
THE cost of inaction towards sustainable development will far exceed the cost of moving towards a low carbon economy. So said Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, speaking at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Global Roundtable session in Cape Town today. ‘‘Will short terms and greed be mitigated in the future? Will profit be the sole driver of innovation in the future? Is there the opportunity and - more importantly - the leadership to shift paradigms?’’
First 100% Wind-electricity powered City - 11 months ago
Rock Port, a town of 1,395 in North West Missouri, was the first U.S. town to get all its electricity from wind power. The $90 million Loess Hills Wind Farm, was built by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group and the John Deere Corp.