Red Cap Energy (Pty) Ltd (Red Cap) want to develop three wind farms 65km north of Beaufort West along the R381 to Loxton, in the Beaufort West Local Municipality, Central Karoo District Municipality, Western Cape. The wind farms will be developed on the adjacent farms Leeuwkloof, Snydersfontein, Bultfontein, Slangfontein and Rocklands (Gert Adriaans Kraal). The proposal includes a ±120km gridline running roughly along the DR02317 and the De Jager’s Pass road (DR02311) (but excluding De Jager’s Pass itself) to the Eskom Droërivier Substation located south-west of Beaufort West.
A Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting (S&EIR) process for each wind farm and a Basic Assessment (BA) process for the gridline is required in terms of the National Environment Management Act (NEMA, Act No. 107 of 1998, as amended) and the 2014 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations (as amended) and Government Notice 145 of 26 February 2021 (GN145/2021) to obtain authorisations for the proposed developments. Formal applications been submitted to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).
The Nuweveld North, East and West wind farm draft Environmental Impact Assessment Reports (EIA Reports), for which the public comment period ended on 24 June 2021, excluded the DFFE’s generic Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) for substations. Government Notice 435 gazetted on 22 March 2019 (GN435/2019) specifies that any application that includes a substation such as those on the wind farms, must use the DFFE’s generic EMPr for substations. This has been rectified and the generic substation EMPr has been added to the Nuweveld North, East and West wind farm draft EIA reports which have now been named the 2nd Draft EIA reports.
Registered I&APs are notified of the availability of the Nuweveld North, East and West wind farm 2nd Draft EIA reports from the 6 August 2021 and are invited to consider the now included DFFE’s generic EMPr for substations (the new Annexure G). Written comments must reach Patrick Killick (details below) by 6 September 2021. If you submitted comments on the previous draft EIA reports (comment period ended on 24 June 2021), these will still be addressed and responded to in the final EIA reports, along with any new comments you may have due to the addition of the new generic substation EMPr. There is thus no need for you to resubmit previous comments.
The online folders have been updated to include the DFFE’s generic EMPr as Annexure G. Apart from this new Annexure G (the Generic EMPr) and updating the date on the draft EIA reports and renaming the reports “2nd Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Report”, all other documents remain unchanged from the draft EIA reports. To make it easier to locate the new Annexure G, its link is at the top of each wind farms dedicated page in red. The online folders can be accessed through the following links:
Hard copies will be available for viewing over the comment period at the following locations:
To limit the spread COVID-19 you are requested to sanitise your hands before you read the reports and afterwards and also please wear your mask while handling the documents. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms (e.g. high temperature, persistent cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, sore throat, body aches, unusual redness of eyes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue, weakness or tiredness) then please rather use the online documents and do not go to view the hard copies.
Please direct written comments to the undersigned by 6 September 2021 to:
Patrick Killick
Email: Patrick.Killick @zutari.com
Post: PO Box 509, George, 6530
Fax: +27 44 805 5454
Mobile: +27 72 446 8005
Disclaimer: Please note that, as a Registered I&AP in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, 2014, your contact details will be submitted to the Competent Authority. Please advise if you wish to deregister. The processing of personal information is subject to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act No. 4 of 2013, which came into effect on the 1st of July 2021.