Coal producer Cerity Resources has begun construction on South Africa's largest wind farm, as South Africa's mining industry seeks to reduce its dependence on troubled state-owned power company Eskom.
South Africa plans to transition from its most polluting fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources, but faces the added challenge of cushioning the blow to communities that rely on coal mining for jobs. The 155-megawatt wind farm, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Cerity's New Denmark mine, will create as many as 800 jobs and help smooth its transformation, the company's green energy chief said. Peter Benn said.
Although grid capacity is saturated in many parts of the country, the coal-rich province of Mpumalanga has surplus connections available to the mining sector. The new wind farm is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026 and will help fill the gap as Eskom's aging coal-fired power plants struggle to meet demand.
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Cerity Green CEO Ben said in an interview at the Indaba Mining Conference in Cape Town that “there will be a lot of projects” to power mines in the region. .
The Seriti division plans to build infrastructure capable of delivering 900 megawatts of green energy over the next few years.
Cerity shareholders Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank will finance the first wind project, with the company “leveraging its balance sheet” to begin construction in December and order key equipment such as transformers Then Ben said.
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