Feasibility Study Will Identify 500 MW of Wind Energy Projects in South Africa | Black & Veatch
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Feasibility Study Will Identify 500 MW of Wind Energy Projects in South Africa

Feasibility Study Will Identify 500 MW of Wind Energy Projects in South Africa

Project Name
Wind 500 Program
Location
South Africa
Client
ESKOM

Black & Veatch is supporting Eskom to develop two wind project sites known as Kleinsee and Aberdeen, located in South Africa. Together, the two sites make up the Wind 500 Program, as the potential combined output capacity is targeted at 500 megawatts.

Black & Veatch initially assisted Eskom to identify potential sites for additional study, and then site visits were performed. The first step was to develop a wind data collection program. Conceptual layouts were prepared to identify optimum sites for meteorological (met) equipment. This equipment included a combination of several 100-meter tall monitoring towers and sonic profilers. 

The met towers are sized to obtain hub height wind and temperature data. The use of hub height anemometer data is expected to significantly reduce measurement uncertainties relative to the more standard 60-meter towers.

The use of multiple sonic wind profilers will enable additional flexibility of data collection at the sites and supplement data from the towers. These SODAR (Sonic Detection And Ranging) units will be used to improve spatial coverage of wind data collected at the project sites.

Black & Veatch will manage all the data collection and will use state-of-the art wind analysis software. The result will be a wind resource analysis and an energy production analysis. 

Once the wind characteristics of the site are established, Black & Veatch will create conceptual layouts by assuming appropriate wind turbines for the site. The conceptual designs, energy production analysis and cost estimates will be utilized in feasibility studies to determine the economic viability of the projects.

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