Partners involved in the proposed R1-billion, 40MW Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm (TCWF) project, signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday, laying out plans to have the project ready by 2013.

The TCWF consortium consists of a number of key local partners - the Tsitsikamma Development Trust, which operates on behalf of the community that owns the land, South African energy company Watt Energy and mining company Exxaro, which together hold a 46% stake. The other shareholders and stakeholders include the Danish Industrialisation Fund for Developing countries; Danish independent power producer European Energy; Eastern Cape Community Wind Energy Development Association (ECCWEDA); the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas; the Danish Export Credit Fund, which would provide debt credits; the Danish energy utility Dong Energy, which would procure carbon credits from the project; and Danish wind laboratory Riso, which was responsible for wind measuring and mapping.

While many wind power projects in South Africa have taken a long time to get off the ground, it is understood that the TCWF project is at a fairly advanced stage.

Reported by Engineering News