Heritage Cases

De Beers Venetia Mine (hereto referred to as De Beers) proposes the development of a Photovoltaic(PV) solar energy facility (SEF) to reduce its consumption of grid-supplied power by using solar power.The solar energy facility will be run by a third-party power producer, which will be contracted through aSpecial Purpose Vehicle (SPV), set up by De Beers.Zutari (Pty) Ltd has been appointed as the environmental assessment practitioner (EAP) to conduct theenvironmental impact assessment (EIA) process for this project. The SPV is the applicant, applying forenvironmental authorisation (EA) from the Limpopo Department of Economic Development,Environment and Tourism (LEDET), who is the environmental competent authority (CA).Since the project proposal is for the development of a PV facility (i.e. the generation of electricity from arenewable resource) and the capacity will be more than 20 Megawatts (MW), it is considered a “listedactivity” in terms of the NEMA 2014 EIA Regulations (GN No. R 982 to 985 of 2014). As such, aScoping and EIA process is required in accor dance with these Regulations. The Venetia Diamond Mine is situated approximately 80 km west of Musina and 36km north east ofAlldays in the Limpopo Province. The SEF and associated infrastructure are proposed to be developedon the preferred site situated on the Remainder of Portion 0 of the Farm Drumsheugh 99 MS farm(referred to as the southern parcel) with an alternative, namely Portion 0 of the Farm Regina 68 MS(referred to as the northern parcel, or Site 2). Site 2 also transects small portions of farms Endora 66MS and Halcyon 69 MS. Both sites have proposed transmission line corridors, which may affectadditional farm portions, between the SEF and substations close to Venetia Mine.Typical PV facility components will include:An SEF, comprising of numerous rows of PV modules mounted on steel tracking mounts and footings(concrete or driven into the ground) with associated support infrastructure, including inverters;Internal access roads for servicing and maintenance of the site;Temporary equipment laydown areasfor useduring construction;Buildings, including a substation building, operation and maintenance building, guard cabin;Weather stations within the fenced perimeter of the site;Perimeter fencing;Substation and/or switchyard located at the solar farm, to convert the power from solar farm mediumvoltage to high voltage for transmission;Overhead transmission line/s, to transmit power from the solar farm to the mine (described in moredetail below);Expansion to the existing substation and/or switchyardlocated at the mine, to convert the powerfrom transmission voltage to mine voltage (11 kV or 132 kV);Battery energy storage systems,using non-hazardous lithium ion battery technology; andA borehole. Two overhead transmission lines up to 132 kV are required to transmit the generated power from theSEF to the mine. Two transmission line corridors for each alternative were identified. Each corridor is200m wide to ensure that it is sufficient for the final micro-siting of the pylons to navigate topographyand identified environmental constraints. Furthermore, these corridors will also be informed by thespecialist assessment findings during the EIA phase. Therefore, it is currently requested that two 200mwide corridors be approved together with the approved site.