Siemens secures South Africa wind power contract

Siemens has secured a large wind power contract in South Africa with an order for 157 wind turbines for three projects in Northern Cape.

The 2.3 MW Siemens G2 platforms will be installed at the wind power plants of Khobab, Loeriesfontein 2 and Noupoort for a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power.

The consortium commissioned Jeffrey’s Bay Wind Farm in the middle of last year, again as a partner with Siemens Wind Power. The new contract includes a service and maintenance agreement for a period of 10 years.

The three wind power plants have a combined generation capacity of 360 MW. Both the 140-MW Khobab wind farm and the 140-MW Loeriesfontein 2 wind farm are located in the Namakwa District Municipality while the 80-MW Noupoort wind farm is located in Umsobomvu Local Municipality, 400 km north of Port Elizabeth.

All these projects will be equipped with the Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine which has a rotor diameter of 108 m and a tower with a hub height of 99.5 m. Turbine installation will start in August 2015 and commissioning of the three projects is scheduled from early 2016 to the end of 2017.