Debate over new Makhanda wind farm

Wind turbines on the Eastern Cape bushveld along the R350 road to Bedford, outside Makhanda. The area around has some of the country’s best wind power potential but is also among the Eastern Cape’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes. Photos: Aphiwe Ngowapi

• The Governors Kop Wind Energy Facility proposes 37 turbines generating 296MW on a 9,386-hectare site about 17km from Makhanda.
• The project’s own consultants have identified the area as having high to very high environmental sensitivity and conservationists say it could threaten private game reserves and the local tourism economy.
• The company behind the development has not been made public; the number of jobs that may be created is unclear; and no details of what community equity stake or social investment will flow from the project have been given.

The hills around Makhanda, Eastern Cape, have some of the country’s best wind power potential. But at a public participation meeting at Makhanda City Hall on 15 September on the scoping report for the proposed Governors Kop Wind Energy Facility, tensions rose as residents weighed the benefits against the risks, who would benefit, and where the turbines would go.

The proposed 296MW, 37-turbine wind farm would be situated on a 9,386-hectare site approximately 17 kilometres from the city. The developer’s own specialist consultants have identified the site as having high to very high environmental sensitivity.

Should the facility’s scoping report be denied by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the project will stop. But if approved, it advances to a full environmental impact assessment (EIA).

The comment period closes on 28 September.

Makhanda’s wind farms

Makhanda has at least four wind farm projects at various stages of development within roughly 20 kilometres of the city.

The oldest, Waainek, commissioned in January 2016, set a benchmark that the later projects have struggled to match. Developed by EDF Renewables (formerly InnoWind) six kilometres south-west of Makhanda, the 24.6MW farm supplies roughly the equivalent of the city’s peak winter demand. Crucially, the Makana Winds of Change Community Trust holds 26% of the shares in Waainek Wind Power (Pty) Ltd, equity that should generate significant dividend income across the farm’s operational lifetime.

EDF’s follow-up project, the Albany Wind Energy Facility – 25 turbines, wholly owned by a French state utility through EDF Renewables, with no community equity stake – triggered a legal fight that remains unresolved.

Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Wilderness Foundation Africa and the Indalo Association (a collective of nine private reserves) have filed High Court review applications seeking to set aside the DFFE’s approval, arguing the decision was unlawful and irrational.

A key plank of their case: a six-kilometre buffer zone around an endangered martial eagle nest would require removing 11 of the 25 turbines. The case is pending.

A third project, Wind Garden – 94.5MW, wholly South African-owned by NOA Group – is under construction on the R350 towards Bedford. Wind Garden carries no community equity, but NOA ran social investment programmes even before its turbines generated commercial power.

In February, its bursary programme cleared outstanding university tuition fees for ten Makhanda students. In April, it funded hospitality training for two young people with disabilities. These are corporate social investment initiatives, not shareholding.

Mystery owner

The company behind the Governors Kop farm has not been made public. An attendee at the public meeting noted that the project documents listed French telephone numbers among the contacts.

Enviro Insight, the environmental assessment practitioner running the process, did not identify the ultimate beneficial owner.

A scoping report must name the applicant (almost always a special-purpose company) but not the ultimate owner.

A turbine part of the under-construction Wind Garden farm next to the R300, outside Makhanda.

Jobs

The sharpest exchanges at the meeting centred on permanent employment.

“How many sustainable jobs will you be creating when you’re done with construction? That’s a benchmark question,” an attendee said.

Ronnel Kuppen of Enviro Insight said the construction phase is always the largest in terms of employment. Operations require only a small, skilled team.

Pressed for figures, she offered only that “you can have up to 300 people employed” during construction.

“I’m not interested in the construction phase,” a speaker responded. “I’m talking about sustainable employment for the community.”

Craig Sholto-Douglas, Kwandwe’s environmental manager speculated that maybe ten people would be employed permanently. He also noted that historically construction work had drawn skilled labour from outside Makhanda.

Kuppen said the project envisaged social development spending and a community trust, but could not give a percentage of equity or a figure for revenue.

The biodiversity economy

Shamwari, Kwandwe and Buffalo Kloof argue that the project threatens an existing economy that sustains far more livelihoods than any wind farm would create.

John O’Brien of Shamwari said four private reserves in the area directly employ roughly 1,200 people. Kwandwe spent R88-million with South African suppliers in 2025, with 69 Makhanda-area businesses among the beneficiaries.

Richard Summers, a lawyer representing Kwandwe, warned of a tipping point. “First Wind Garden, then Albany, and now Governors Kop. There’s a critical threshold mass at which game reserves see that the viability of their model is under attack. If the tourists stop coming, the money stops flowing.”

Township residents at the meeting refused to allow the argument to stay between developers and nature reserves.

“Makhanda has got more than 60% unemployed,” one said. “When you talk about bats, do I care about bats? I am not insensitive to those things. But how do they impact my livelihood?”

Litigation threatened

Kuppen confirmed high environmental sensitivity across the site, but argued this does not automatically halt development. Mitigation measures and offsets could address the impacts.

But Summers challenged this. “When the Site Sensitivity Verification process identifies very high sensitivity, that for me signifies a fundamental problem with the site location,” he said.

“We are fooling ourselves into thinking that the EIA process can cure or mitigate a deficiency at that level.”

He said Kwandwe will litigate if the report is approved.

This is an adapted version of an article first published by Grocott’s Mail.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast