Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has given the green light for the construction of a R195-million solar-power plant on a farm in Durbanville that will reduce the local community’s dependency on Eskom’s power grid.
It will take up just 17.5 hectares of the almost 1 000ha Farm Blaauw Blommen Kloof, and will generate 5.7 megawatts (MW) of electricity – enough to provide power to about 750 average-sized houses.
According to First Plan Town and Regional Planners, the applicant on behalf of SunSpot SA, “the solar-power farm will support the farm owners and surrounding farms by ensuring that there are less power cuts, with an excess supply for residents”.
And while there will be no threat to the safety, well-being or health of the surrounding community, a conservation site to the east and south of a 40m buffer must be declared a no-go site.
The farm is north-east of one of Eskom’s wind turbine projects, and will be connected to Eskom’s sub-station for the sale of “green” electricity.
But the parastatal has imposed conditions on the project, including restrictions on the building of any buildings or structures within 11m of the overhead power lines or 9m from any of Eskom’s 11 kilovolt power lines.
First Plan Town Planners noted in its application for consent use to construct the plant that almost 90 percent of South Africa’s electricity was generated in coal-fired power stations, making it the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Africa. But as South Africa also had some of the highest levels of solar radiation, solar power was a viable alternative.
First Plan said the farm would create about three local jobs per MW of electricity generated. There would be 25 permanent jobs and an additional 92 job opportunities in the construction phase.
Although the Cape Town Spatial Development Framework and Northern District Plan do not provide policy guidelines for renewable energy infrastructure, the city said this form of power was “deemed vital” for the protection of the environment.
The city’s spatial planning, environment and land-use management committee yesterday approved the application for a utility service to be erected on agricultural land.
Sunspot’s Mark Bleloch said the company, with SunEdison, was developing six similar farms for the Department of Energy in Bonnievale, McGregor, Wolseley, Riebeek Kasteel, Eendekuil and the Hex River Valley. - Cape Argus