Winds of Change as Renewable Energy Nears Darling Wind Farm-Sod Turning Ceremony

This follows the turning of the first sod for the construction of the Darling Wind Farm at the Windhoek farm north west of Darling in the Western Cape today.

It is envisaged that the wind farm will be operational towards the middle of the year.

In pursuit of its goal to source 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the City of Cape Town has undertaken to become the anchor customer of the wind farm for a period of 20 years, thereby enabling the project to go ahead.

The City will sell the green electricity to consumers who specifically want to make a positive contribution to the future of the planet.

This electricity will replace electricity generated from fossil fuel sources, such as coal. Such sources are a major contributor to global warming through the emission of carbon dioxide gas generated during combustion.

It is estimated that the wind farm will prevent about 254 000 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere during its lifetime.

The amount of electricity to be generated by the farm is relatively small and therefore will not address the power shortages presently faced by the country.

However, successful implementation of the project should pave the way for similar developments in the future and collectively a large number of renewable energy generators connected to the national grid would make a difference to supply reliability.

Consumers purchasing this green electricity, which is to be sold at a premium of 25c (excl 14% vat) per unit (kWh) above the normal cost of electricity, should have no fear that their electricity supply would be jeopardised should the wind not blow.

All that would happen in a situation like this is that any deficit in the generation of green electricity would be made up by other conventional generation plants connected to the grid.

Purchases of green electricity will be provided with certificates
providing proof of purchase of this energy, and a strict audit process
will ensure that the City does not sell more green electricity than it
has purchased from the Darling Wind Farm.

Companies with social responsibility programmes will find that the green electricity option is a unique opportunity to add to their environmental portfolio component this "triple bottom line" item.

They could consider "greening" facilities, such as a head office, or processes (such as manufacturing lines) through purchasing sufficient green electricity to cover the electricity consumption of the facility or process.

Issued by:

Communication and Marketing: City of Cape Town

Tel 021 400 2201
Fax: 021 957 0023

Media Queries:

Brian Jones
Project Engineer: Green Energy
City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 446 2015

email: brian.jones@capetown.gov.za