Heritage Cases

The Applicant, Kotulo Tsatsi Energy (Pty) Ltd, is proposing the construction of a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facility (known as the Kotulo Tsatsi Energy PV1) located on a site located approximately 70km south-west of the town of Kenhardt and 60km northeast of Brandvlei in the Northern Cape Province. The solar energy facility will comprise several arrays of PV panels and associated infrastructure and will have a contracted capacity of up to 200MW. The facility will be located within the farm Portion 3 of Farm Styns Vley 280. The PV facility is planned to be located adjacent to the authorised 100MW Kotulo Tsatsi PV2 facility, and within an area previously authorised for CSP project infrastructure. The project site 1 falls under the Hantam Local Municipality which is part of Namakwa District Municipality. The site is accessible via an existing gravel farm road (known as Soafskolk Road) which provides access to the farm off of the R27 which is located east of the project site. The PV infrastructure assessed in this application is in response to the Applicant’s need to change the authorised generation technology for the facility located on the farm Portion 3 of Farm Styns Vley 280. That is, a technology change from the previously authorised CSP project infrastructure to PV project infrastructure. In this regard, the solar PV facility will be connected to the grid via a previously authorised grid connection solution 2, which consists of a collector substation, switching station and a power line to the Eskom Aries Substation located north-east of the project site. Kotulo Tsatsi Energy PV1 is planned to be bid into the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme with the aim of evacuating the generated power into the national grid. This will aid in the diversification and stabilisation of the country’s electricity supply with Kotulo Tsatsi Energy PV1 set to inject up to 200MW AC into the national grid. A development envelope of ~847ha was defined through the Scoping evaluation of the site, and has now been assessed for the project which includes the PV infrastructure required to generate 200MW of electricity. The infrastructure to be developed within the development envelope will be known as the development footprint and will have an extent of ~810ha. The infrastructure associated with this PV development includes: » Solar PV array footprint comprising of: PV modules and mounting structures Inverters and transformers Integrated Energy Storage System (IESS) Cabling between the project components Internal access roads » Access roads, internal distribution roads and fencing around the development footprint » Admin block comprising of: Site offices and maintenance buildings, including workshop areas for maintenance and storage. Assembly plant Laydown areas The assessment of the PV facility on the site is to support the technology change from the previously authorised CSP project infrastructure to PV project infrastructure. In this regard, the following previously authorised infrastructure will be retained for use for the planned PV facility, and the associated footprint areas of the following previously authorised infrastructure have not been reassessed in this EIA: » Complete grid connection to Aries Substation: Grid connection via a previously authorised grid connection solution, which consists of internal grid reticulation, a collector substation, switching substation and a power line to the Eskom Aries Substation located north-east of the project site.