Italian renewable energy utility company Enel’s 140 MW Oyster Bay onshore wind farm in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa has reached commercial operation.
Located in the Kouga municipality, the wind farm will generate over 568 GWh of electricity per year and mitigate 590,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The $212 million project was developed by Enel’s South African subsidiary, Enel Green Power RSA, with the wind park’s output being sold to South Africa’s national power utility company, Eskom, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The Oyster Bay wind farm is one of five wind projects awarded to the company in April 2015 under the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) program.
The company now has nine operational wind and solar sites in the country, with a total installed capacity of 801.5 MW. In the Eastern Cape province, there are the Nojoli Wind Farm (88 MW), the Gibson Bay Wind Farm (111 MW), and the Nxuba Wind Farm (140 MW); the Upington Solar Plant (10 MW) and the Adams Solar PV Project Two (81.5 MW) in the Northern Cape; and the Paleishuewel (82.5 MW), Pulida (82.5 MW), and Tom Burke (66 MW) solar plants in the Western Cape, Free State and Limpopo provinces, respectively.
