Jeffreys Bay wind farm on Monday announced that ten of its wind turbines had been connected to State-owned power utility Eskom’s grid, supplying 23 MW of power.

“The project’s substation has been energised. This marks the first step towards supplying enough clean, renewable electricity to power more than 114 000 South African homes and avoid over 420 000 t of carbon emissions each year,” Jeffreys Bay wind farm GM Mark Pickering said.

To date, 65% of the 138 MW project’s 60 wind turbines had been erected and the transportation programme, through which components were transported to the site from the Port of Ngqura, located 20 km from Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, would soon draw to an end.

Meanwhile, the final turbine foundation base had been completed during the first week of December, while the company also achieved one-million lost-time injury-free hours.

“[This is] a significant target for such a new industry in South Africa [and] is a major success for one of the country’s largest wind farms, especially considering that the workforce had no experience in this sector before their first induction a few months ago,” Pickering said.

The 3 700 ha Jeffreys Bay wind farm was being developed as part of the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.