Enel’s Eskom-Backed Wind Farm In S Africa Reaches COD

Italian electric utility Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) said that its 140-MW Nxuba wind farm erected in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa reached commercial operation.

The promoter of the EUR-200-million (USD 244m) project is the group’s local renewables business Enel Green Power RSA, which secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) for Nxuba’s output in South Africa’s REIPPPP tender in April 2015.

The wind farm will generate electricity for South African utility Eskom under a 20-year PPA. Its production levels are estimated at 460 GWh per year.

Enel was awarded PPAs for five 140-MW wind projects in the REIPPPP round 4 back in 2015. After Nxuba, the company is looking at full operation of the remaining four wind farms in 2021.

The Garob and the Oyster Bay wind farms are scheduled to start operations in the second quarter of 2021, while Karusa and Soetwater will reach commercial operation date (COD) later in the fourth quarter, according to Enel’s timetable.

With Nxuba on the grid, Enel Green Power RSA now operates over 650 MW of installed capacity between wind and solar farms in South Africa.

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