The winds of change
Volume: Volume 2 Issue 9 |  Monday, 28 November 2011 |  Tony Carnie  |  0 comment

IOL

Durban is getting three new wind turbines just in time for the UN climate change conference – despite the unresolved rumpus over turbine blades slicing up a major bat colony on the Bluff.

But the latest project – slap bang on the Durban beachfront – is unlikely to threaten any bats or birds. And the turbines are a lot smaller. So small, in fact, that the miniature model turbines have been installed at Minitown.

The three turbines erected on the beachfront are replicas of the much larger turbines which a local energy company is hoping to erect near eMpangeni to generate up to 80MW of renewable energy.

Florian Kroeber, of Astrum Energy, said his company was still seeking environmental approval to install up to 30 wind turbines near eMpangeni.

“Putting up a wind farm is such a long-term thing that just to ease the frustration a bit, we decided to build some little ones at Minitown for a bit of fun.

“Apart from coinciding with the UN climate change meeting, the Durban beachfront is a great location and we thought it would be an ideal educational tool and an opportunity to promote renewable energy,” said Kroeber.

The erection of the Minitown turbines comes amid continuing controversy over plans by the eThekwini electricity department to erect two or three 150kW wind turbines at the Bluff military base before the arrival of thousands of delegates attending the 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17).

The department was hoping to showcase the renewable “green energy” turbines before the conference starts on November 28 – but has come under fire from bat lovers and other conservation groups, largely because of the presence of a large breeding colony of Egyptian slit-faced bats close to the Bluff site.

Conservation groups fear that the slit-faced bats could be decimated by the spinning turbine blades and have suggested that senior eThekwini officials appeared to be more interested in “window-dressing” for COP17 than ensuring that renewable energy projects were environmentally sustainable.

Last week, deputy city manager Derek Naidoo confirmed that he had met interest groups to discuss their concerns.

“The municipality is considering their submissions and the matter is still under investigation. Further information will be made available in due course,” he said.