Heritage Cases

The Applicant, Wolf Wind Farm (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of juwi Renewable Energies (Pty) Ltd (hereafter referred to as juwi) has been authorised to construct a 90MW Wind Energy Facility (WEF) referred to as the Wolf Wind Farm on the border of the Sundays River Valley Local Municipality and Ikwezi Local Municipality, situated approximately 5km north of Wolwefontein, 35km north-west of Kirkwood and 36km south-east of Jansenville, atop the Klein Winterhoek Mountain range in the Eastern Cape. The project was originally authorised on the 14 September 2015, via Environmental Authorisation (EA) ref no. 14/12/16/3/3/2/599, as amended by 14/12/16/3/3/2/599/AM1, 14/12/16/3/3/2/599/AM3 and 14/12/16/3/3/2/599/AM41. Since the issuing of the authorisation and subsequent amendments, the wind energy market has continued to evolve and adapt and as a result of a changing marketplace, the applicant would like to undertake a further amendment to the EA to enable them to consider the newer wind turbine models that were not previously available or not considered due to technical, environmental and financial reasons at the time of the original Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or the subsequent amendments. Some of these turbine models will better serve the project on technical and financial grounds, most notably their ability to harvest a greater amount of wind and thus generating larger amounts of energy per unit, improving the project efficiency and viability. This is important as it ensures the project can bid competitively with other wind projects competing for approval. The current proposed amendments would include the following: 1. Tower height: Increase turbine tower height from ≤110m to ≤135m 2. Rotor diameter: Increase the maximum Rotor diameter from ≤160m to ≤186m 3. Turbine numbers: Decrease turbine positions from ≤24 to ≤212 (dropping turbines No. 1, 2 and 16) 4. Layout revision: Micrositing of 8 turbine positions to avoid revised/expanded bat buffers (See turbines 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 19, 24 and 27) changes in turbine location and size precipitated the need for a minor revisions to the draft layout for associated infrastructure (including roads (wider bends, revised truck turning areas), cabling, temporary laydown areas and the substation). 5. Update of Applicant address – The applicant has moved offices and these details will be amended. 6. Update Condition 13.17: Condition 13.17 should remove the referral to the amended EIR dated 26 June 2015 and replace this with the details of the current amendment All other aspects of the project, i.e. the total power nameplate capacity of 90MW and the general location of the wind turbines and all associated infrastructure would remain unchanged from the currently authorised project. This modified turbine envelope may result in a change in scope of the EA and, in terms of section 31 of Government Notice Regulation 982 of 4 December 2014 (GN R.982) and previous amendments, a change to the nature or scope of the associated impacts requires an EA amendment process to be undertaken in accordance with Section 32 of GN R.982. This approach is supported by similar amendment processes for the same project. This report is therefore compiled in fulfilment of the legal requirements for a Part 2 Amendment in terms of Regulation 32 of GN R 982. It provides a description and motivation for the proposed changes, as well as an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed changes, and, if required, introduces new mitigation measures in respect of any impacts resulting from the change. The nature of the changes and sensitivities on the site has required a review from the following specialists: noise, socioeconomic, heritage, Bats, Birds, botanical, and visual. The amendment changes will not significantly impact the construction and decommissioning phase activities and will not significantly impact on the other specialist fields included in the original EIA which have been excluded from this amendment report. This report will be subjected to a 30-day comment period and all comments considered and responded to in a Comments and Responses Report to be appended to the final EA Amendment Report and submitted to the Competent Authority (CA) for decision making. All Registered I&APs will be notified of the Competent Authority’s Decision and provided with an opportunity to appeal any decision.