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3rd wind farm for SA

Submitted by Cape Town Green Map on Mon, 2009-03-30 14:16

First there was the Darling wind farm, then the Koekenaap facility - the 100-megawatt wind farm on the West Coast near the town of the same name, set to begin construction later this year, despite hiccoughs. And now a third wind farm has been earmarked for St Helena Bay.

With a budget of R850-million the planned St Helena Bay Wind Farm will be a large-scale renewable energy plant, with the capacity to produce at least 50 MW of power (roughly half the Koekenaap facility) - or up to 2% of the entire Western Cape province's 3 500 MW summer requirements.

 

Energy generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid. There is a positive element to this particular wind farm too. The land earmarked for the wind farm at St Helena Bay is owned by the poor fishing community of Seeland. A group of over 200 emerging farmers from this community have joined to form a Trust, which is 25% owner in the wind farm project.

 

Other players include the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, the Saldanha Municipality, Oxfam UK and Genesis Eco-Energy (a Cape based energy company).

 

source: sagoodnews

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Cape Wind

Submitted by YennaA on Sat, 2010-05-01 12:00.
Meanwhile, now that the U.S. Department of the Interior has approved Cape Wind, the debate is getting even more frantic. If Cape Wind is built, it will be the first-ever U.S. offshore wind development and would be able to provide cheap power to three quarters of the Cape Cod community. Alternative energy is a movement becoming stronger by the day. We all have been trying to produce a healthier more secure environment for all of us and future generations. That's the principle among the Cape Cod, Cape Wind project. The wind farm they're preparing to put in the Nantucket Sound can be the very first U.S. off shore wind farm. The place is excellent because of the continual wind there; and will provide 3 quarters of clean energy to the community. However you will find still many opposed to the idea and that explains why for 10 years they have been trying to put this wind farm up and have hit road blocks the whole way.