Wind farms boost farmers’ incomes

When Dawid Zietsman’s eyes lock on the rotating blades of the wind generators on his farm, it warms his coronary heart to know they’re getting used to generate clear power that’s fed into the nationwide grid, thereby serving to to cut back South Africa’s greenhouse gasoline emissions and reduce the impression of crippling energy outages. He can be grateful for the annual revenue earned from every wind turbine.

“This has enabled me to farm on a full-time basis, and the additional benefits have been better road infrastructure and security,” Zietsman says.

His wind-power journey started when he was approached by Red Cap Energy, a frontrunner within the South African renewable power {industry} since 2009.

Red Cap Energy focuses on constructing robust bonds with farmland house owners, as a typical undertaking features a improvement part that runs from three to 6 years, adopted by about two years of building, after which 20 years of operation.

“We pride ourselves on the time, effort and resources we put into working with the farmland owners, who become part of the team and are kept up to date throughout the process,” says Mark Tanton, CEO of Red Cap Energy.

Numerous benefits

Benefits to farmers embody the era of an annual revenue for 20-plus years, improved roads and different infrastructure, elevated safety, and alternatives to entry extra capital to additional develop their farming operations.

An instance of how Red Cap Energy works with farming communities to safe these advantages is how the corporate negotiated a groundbreaking settlement with the Department of Roads and Transport for personal funding for use as a part of current public road-maintenance contracts.

Major initiatives

Two standout Red Cap Energy initiatives are the Kouga and Gibson Bay wind farms. Kouga can generate about 300GWh of unpolluted electrical power per yr, equal to the annual consumption wants of about 50 000 common households, whereas avoiding the annual emission of over 290 000t of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Gibson Bay can generate round 420GWh per yr, equal to the annual consumption wants of round 131 000 South African households, whereas avoiding the emission of greater than 383 000t of CO₂ every year.

A farmer is usually solely required to lease out about 2% of his or her land to be used as a wind farm, and might proceed to farm between the generators. In return, Red Cap Energy pays an above-industry-standard mounted proportion of the income from each turbine on the farm for the total length of the undertaking.

“This significantly increases the revenue/ha of their farm, as they are now in effect farming the air above the land as well as the land itself!” says Tanton.

“In addition, we pay farmers a fixed amount per turbine during the two-year construction period.”

The assured annual annuity from the wind farm undertaking on his land enabled Zietsman to entry extra funding within the type of a industrial agricultural mortgage from the financial institution to spend money on his farm.

“My farm was too small to be viable without a boost of capital. Once the wind farm became operational, I was able to leave my job and farm full time,” he says.

Tanton concludes: “We look forward to partnering with farmers as we go about realising our vision of uplifting South Africa by generating renewable energy and supporting the farming industry, which is the backbone of the economy.”

Visit red-cap.co.za. Email Jadon Schmidt of Red Cap at [email protected], or telephone him on 082 468 2392.