Group Five Civil Engi-
neering, a registered
subsidiary
of
Group
Five Construction, has
been subcontracted by
the joint venture Iber-
drola Engineering & Construction South
Africa and Group Five Construction PPP, to
construct the much-acclaimed renewable
energy project- the Noblesfontein WEF.
The total project cost is estimated at more
than R165 146 151 and the project contract
duration of 14 months which commenced
end of April 2013. With an increased
focus on renewable energy sources
worldwide today, it is important that a
project of this nature, arguably one of
thefirstwindenergyfacilitiesinSouthAfrica,
is executed to time and quality standards.
The construction team has worked hard to
overcome many logistical and resourcing
constraints to ensure delivery of the project
to the client’s satisfaction.
For any project of this nature to succeed,
it is always important to fully understand
not only the client’s requirements, but also
its geographical positioning and context;
including among other things the strengths
and weaknesses of local construction busi-
nesses in order to adopt an appropriate
implementation strategy.
The infrastructure associated with the
Noblesfontein WEF includes:
• 41 wind turbines with a total generating
capacity of 78 MW using turbines with a
generating capacity of up to 1,8 MW,
• 22 hectares of the proposed site will
be permanently transformed for the
installation of the turbines and related
infrastructure,
• Each turbine will be a steel tower (80 m
in height), nacelle (gear box) and three
rotor blades with a rotor diameter of
110 m (i.e. each blade 55 m in length),
• 41 temporary turbine laydown areas of
50 m x 25 m (55 000 m
2
),
• 41 concrete foundations to support the
turbine towers (16 m diameter x 2,5 m
in depth),
• A temporary laydown area with a
footprint of 5,5 hectares,
ENVIRONMENT
WIND
energy from oblesfontein
The Noblesfontein Wind
Energy Facility (WEF) is
located close to Victoria
West, in the Northern
Cape Province (Great
Karoo), and consists of
a total of 41 Vestas wind
turbine generators with a
power output of 1,8 MW
each (73 MW).
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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2014
