LFW’s management said that, following this pivotal moment, the next major milestone in the wind farm’s construction would be the arrival of its main transformer and the energisation of its substation.
LFW is expected to start supplying South Africa’s national grid with renewable electricity by the end of 2017, as part of the third round of the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
A statement from LFW said that each of its wind turbines would stand 100m high to allow for optimal energy-from-wind production, while each turbine will have three 53m long blades.
If the weather is favourable and the first two sections of the wind turbine tower already erected, it will take only one day to install the remaining structures of each wind turbine.
“The heaviest component is the nacelle, which contains the generator and gearbox, and weighs 82,5t,” LFW said.
When operating at full capacity, LFW will generate approximately 563 500 megawatt-hours of clean and renewable energy annually.
This is sufficient to power up to 120 000 average-sized SA homes.
