80 MW wind farm to go on line near Port Elizabeth in 2014

The Nordex Group’s South African business is continuing to perform well: after establishing a subsidiary in Cape Town and receiving its first major contract, the wind turbine manufacturer has now been awarded a contract for the delivery and installation of an 80 MW wind farm. Under the contract, Nordex will be supplying the “Red Cap Kouga” wind farm on a turn-key basis. Scheduled to commence in April 2013, the work includes the construction of the foundations and road access as well as cabling and the transformer station.

In a next step, Nordex will be supplying 32 N90/2500 strong-wind turbines and installing them at the coastal site, which is characterised by mean wind speeds of around 9 m/s. “Thanks to the good wind conditions and our turbines, which have been designed to make the most of these conditions, the 80 MW “Red Cap Kouga” wind farm will generate an above-average energy yield. In our view, it is precisely this which offers the strongest argument in favour of the continued future expansion of renewable energies. The goal must be to produce clean electricity on a particularly sustainable and, hence, economically viable basis,” explains Lars Bondo Krogsgaard, a member of Nordex’s Management Board.

The customer and ultimate operator of the Kouga project is Red Cap Kouga Wind Farm Pty. The owners of this project development company include various corporations and public institutions committed to regional economic development in South Africa. “In a nascent wind market it was important to Red Cap that the turbine supplier selected to partner with it in its first wind farm development had both a strong technical and financial track record.  In Nordex we found such a partner," says Mark Tanton, Managing Director, Red Cap Kouga Wind Development Company.