Construction World October 2020

PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

KEEPING RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS IN THE FAST LANE JG Afrika, a leading firm of consulting engineers, continues to build on a long and proud legacy of providing high quality traffic and transportation engineering services to prominent international developers of renewable energy projects in the country. This is as the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme starts gaining traction following a period of hiatus.

T o date, over 100 independent-power producer (IPP) projects have been procured from four bidding round windows and more are to be announced in the future as South Africa strives to generate almost 18 000 MW of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. These include utility-scale solar, gas- to-power, biomass, waste-to-energy and wind projects, all of which require unique VSHFLDOLVW VWXGLHV WR HQVXUH WKH HͦFLHQW DQG safe transportation of imported components from the country’s ports to various development sites. Iris Wink, a JG Afrika Associate who OHDGV WKH ͤUP̵V 7UDQVSRUW 7UDͦF Engineering Division in Cape Town, has VXFFHVVIXOO\ FRPSOHWHG DERXW WUDͦF and transportation engineering studies for developers of various renewable energy projects throughout her long career as a WUDQVSRUW DQG WUDͦF HQJLQHHU Passionate about sustainable energy, VSHFLͤFDOO\ ZLQG VKH DOVR KHOSHG WKH ͤUP GHYHORS LWV WUDQVSRUW DQG WUDͦF HQJLQHHULQJ services for the renewable energy sector and has successfully completed about 60 related studies for developers of these SURMHFWV VLQFH MRLQLQJ WKH ͤUP LQ

These studies have played an invaluable role in keeping renewable energy projects on track and mitigating the need for potential design changes to road infrastructure and upgrades at a late stage in the construction programme. “Depending on the size of the project, JG Afrika is invited by developers to XQGHUWDNH GHWDLOHG WUDͦF DQG WUDQVSRUWDWLRQ studies fairly early on in its lifecycle, such as in the prefeasibility and in the Environmental Impact Assessment stages where a more general study is XQGHUWDNHQ 2XU FRPSUHKHQVLYH WUDͦF DQG transportation engineering services for developers of renewable energy projects include detailed access risk assessments, route management and transport logistics studies. This is in addition to studying the impact of renewable energy projects on road networks and communities, as well as undertaking Transport Impact Assessments and conceptual access road designs,” she says. To date, the most challenging and LQWHUHVWLQJ WUDͦF DQG WUDQVSRUWDWLRQ engineering studies undertaken by JG $IULND̵V WHDP RI WUDQVSRUWDWLRQ DQG WUDͦF engineers for the renewable energy market

have been for developers of wind farms. 7KH ͤUP KDV DOUHDG\ FRPSOHWHG DERXW WUDͦF DQG WUDQVSRUWDWLRQ HQJLQHHULQJ studies for this segment of the renewable energy market and it is currently undertaking six more related assignments for developers of wind farms. Notably, wind comprises a larger portion of planned renewable energy investments in South Africa and it is anticipated that it will contribute just under 60% of clean energy- related emissions reductions over project lifespans. Wind farms now supply up to 52% of the country’s clean energy, with a total of 22 operational wind IPPs with an installed capacity of 2 078 MW currently connected to the national grid and more than 900 wind turbines located throughout three provinces of South Africa. A total of 6 360 MW of wind power has already been determined for procurement from IPPs. This is 69% of the capacity planned by 2030 and there are currently 36 preferred wind IPP bidders, providing a combined capacity of 3 366 MW, under the latest round of the REIPPP programme. However, one of the challenges in executing these projects is their extremely

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