Heritage Cases

The proposed new 132 kV transmission line will run from the Grassridge substation in a north-westerly direction to the Skilpad- and Wolf substations for approximately 46km and 44km respectively. In an effort to minimise the potential negative environmental and social impacts of the project, this transmission line is proposed to, as far as possible, run adjacent to an existing 132 kV transmission line and has an approximate length of 90km. The servitude for this new transmission line will be 31m wide. A new 3.5m wide access track will be developed within the new servitude and will run for the full length of the proposed transmission line. The servitude will be accessed via existing access tracks used for the existing 132 kV transmission line and farm roads and tracks. The proposed pylon structures will be a combination of monopole and lattice structures, depending on engineering requirements, and up to 40m high. Special structures with horizontal configuration are proposed be used where the new transmission line will need to cross other existing powerlines. Although the assessment of alternative routing options for this transmission line were initially considered by the technical team, the consideration of alternatives was ultimately to be unfeasible when comparing the potential alternative options with the preferred alternative of constructing the new transmission line adjacent to the existing 132 kV line as far as possible. As such, further costs related to preliminary designs and layouts, as well as specialist assessments of alternative options were spared, since such alternatives could not be justified when compared to the preferred alternative. Therefore, only two project alternatives have been included in this report, namely, 1) Alternative 1 (preferred): Construction of a new 132 kV transmission line adjacent to the existing 132 kV transmission line; and 2) No-Go option: The proposed project does not proceed, resulting in the existing (and failing) 132 kV line to be used for the Wolf Wind Farm. The existing 132 kV transmission line will be kept operational until such time as this new 132 kV transmission line (preferred alternative) is completed and ready for connection to the Eskom power grid.