THE first turbine of the Coega wind farm project in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has been erected and was being connected to the grid on Friday

Engineering News online reports Electrawinds Africa project developer Emil Unger saying that the project, which was the first of a larger 25-turbine farm, would be opened officially by the end of May.

The 1.8MW turbine will produce electricity for the Mandela Bay stadium during the 2010 Fifa World Cup – free of charge. Belgium-based Electrawinds has invested R1.2-billion in the project, and each of the 25 wind turbines will have a 1.8MW capacity, “which translates into an annual yield of 5.7-million kilowatt- hours, enough energy to power about 1700 households”.

Engineering News says completion of the project is scheduled for 2011. Once completed the wind farm will supply the NMBM with about 45MW of green energy. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid and distributed to households in the metro.

Electrawinds is in the process of completing a power-purchase agreement under the “willing seller, willing buyer” model.