South Africa - Eskom registers prospective suppliers for 100MW wind farm

State-owned power utility Eskom said it was in the process of identifying and registering wind turbine manufacturers to supply it with turbines for a 100 MW wind farm project.

In its “expression of interest” document, the company stated that it was seeking manufacturers that could design, construct, commission and maintain wind turbines rated between 1,5 MW and 2,5 MW.

Eskom would follow a prequalification process to develop a list of manufacturers to participate in the commercial process.
Wind power was one of the options that Eskom was considering to diversify its energy supplies.

Eskom had already built three wind turbines at an experimental wind energy farm at Klipheuwel, on the West Coast near Cape Town.

Environmentalists view wind power as a renewable and clean technology to generate power, but the high cost of generating electricity by using wind technology was still standing in the way of the technology being used on a larger scale.