Cape Town, South Africa – EDF power solutions announces the commissioning of the 420MW Koruson 1 cluster, including three wind farms, on the border of the Northern and Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Developed by a consortium led by EDF power solutions, together with South African Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partners, H1 Holdings, Gibb-Crede, and a local community trust, the Koruson 1 project was awarded under Round 5 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in 2021. The consortium has entered into a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the public grid operator.
The consortium also built the largest privately constructed Main Transmission Substation (MTS) in South Africa, designed to connect up to 1.5GW of renewable energy to the national grid, including Koruson 1 and Koruson 2 (a separate 520MW wind farm currently being developed by EDF power solutions with its energy trader partner Envusa Energy) and other future projects.
The construction phase was challenging as the three sites are situated in an isolated area, at a high altitude (over 1600m) and covering more than 500km² of land. Over 110km of access roads had to be built on hilly and rocky terrain to facilitate the construction, operations and maintenance of the project. The components for the 78 turbines and the substation had to be transported on public roads from the Coega harbour located over 400km away from the site.
The 78 wind turbines installed on the three sites have a nominal capacity of 5,6MW each. EDF power solutions chose to use an innovative turbine system, which combines Permanent Magnet Direct Drive (PMDD) technology with a full‑power‑conversion synchronous generator. This provides a rare combination of high efficiency, outstanding reliability, unmatched grid‑support capability, and excellent performance in South Africa’s challenging grid environment.
Approximately 40% of the project value comprises local content. The labour-intensive project required more than 4600 workers to be on site simultaneously at the peak of construction. During operations, 1.2% of revenue generated by Koruson 1 will be applied to socio-economic development initiatives for nearby communities.
Tristan de Drouas, EDF power solutions Southern Africa Vice President commented: “We are thrilled to achieve full commercial operation on Koruson 1 – the project contributes significantly to meeting South Africa’s electricity requirements, supplying the equivalent electricity needs of 579 000 South African households annually. Koruson 1 is the first project in our portfolio of 1.5GW of projects under construction, to reach completion. We are especially proud of the fact that this project has been achieved with an excellent safety record.”