Last week, a proposal by Franco-South African wind energy company, InnoWind, to build a local wind farm, was accepted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs, eliciting a variety of responses from the Grahamstown community.
Last week, a proposal by Franco-South African wind energy company, InnoWind, to build a local wind farm, was accepted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs, eliciting a variety of responses from the Grahamstown community.
Environmentalists are thrilled, but the locals living close to the chosen location are concerned that not all of the necessary studies have been carried out.
The good:
* No environmentally unfriendly emissions
* One step further to being South Africa’s first green city
* A community education trust
* Countless academic opportunities
These are a few of the benefits that a wind farm will bring to Grahamstown. The development of a wind farm will mean that Makana has an alternative source of energy. The energy created by the turbines will be sold to Eskom and used by Grahamstown, while any excess will flow on to the electricity grid, where it can be used in other areas.
Unfortunately, however, this does not mean electricity tariffs will be reduced. Electricity rates are regulated by the national regulator and locals will be billed as per usual by Eskom and the municipality.
What it does mean, according to Dr Garth Cambray, who was instrumental in developing the wind farm proposal, is that it will significantly decrease the chance of load-shedding for our town. A project company will be formed to control the wind farm, in which InnoWind, will own the main share.
Up to a quarter of the shares will be owned by the Makana Winds of Change Community Trust; however, the exact figure is yet to be confirmed. Nikki Kohly, Rhodes University’s health, safety and environmental officer says the primary focus of the Trust will be education funding through scholarships and bursaries.
Cambray is excited that some of the profits will contribute to Grahamstown’s local economy and education. “This means that when we turn a light on once the wind farm is going, we turn a light on at the end of the tunnel to a sustainable, dignified future for a young mind,” he says.
The wind farm’s proximity to Rhodes University will create new academic opportunities. Kohly says the wind farm may be one of the first commercial wind farms to operate in South Africa and will “provide exciting research opportunities relating to wind farms, in areas such as environmental science, economics and social science”.
On top of this, the wind farm’s impact on the local ecosystem has been rated as medium- to low-impact and emission-free. It is also a renewable form of energy and safer than alternatives, such as nuclear power.
The bad and the ugly
“This is my dream home. We have a great lifestyle here and it’s possibly going to be ruined,” says Caroline Field. The Field family live on Coldsprings farm, where they breed buffalo and sable antelope. Their house faces the hill where five of the wind turbines will be erected, should the project go ahead.
These turbines, which will be placed on a neighbour’s farm, will be just beyond their boundary fence and less than one kilometre from their house. Although the Fields aren’t against the implementation of green power, they are worried about the health, lifestyle and economic effects that the close proximity of the wind turbines will have on them.
“Our biggest concern is for our kids, because they say the infrasound isn’t very good for you. I don’t think they’ve researched the health aspects,” says Caroline Field as she watches Liam, 6, and Nicholas, 4, jumping on a trampoline.
However, the Environmental Impact Report, compiled by Coastal and Environmental Services (CES) states that “the impact of low-frequency noise and infr sound will be negligible” and that “there is no evidence to suggest that adverse health effects will occur, as the sound power levels generated in the low-frequency range are not high enough to cause physiological effects”.
Russell Field isn’t convinced that the project will be a success once it is operational. He is concerned that the project will not be able to meet its financial obligations and that Eskom does not yet know how to integrate the wind power into the main electricity grid. “I think it’s going to become scrap metal on the skyline,” he says.
The Fields' main source of income is from foreign clients who visit their lodge. “They will never come here with these things,” says Caroline Field about the visual impact that the turbines will have on their farm. The Fields will be appealing the decision. One of the grounds for their appeal will be that a geo-technical analysis of the area has not yet been done.
Local geologist, Nick Stavrakis, explains that the underlying geology in the proposed location is not stable enough to support the immense weight of the turbines. Principal environmental consultant at CES, Marc Hardy, however, says that detailed geotechnical surveys will be conducted before construction begins to ensure that the underlying geology is suitable to support the turbines.
