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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JULY
2017
Developed by Diaz Wind Power, and a joint
venture between the United Africa Group
and Quantum Power, the wind farm will
be located in Lüderitz, a harbour town in
southwest Namibia that lies on what is
known as one of the least hospitable coasts
in Africa. The Diaz Wind Farm will also be
the country’s first clean energy project and
a major step to harness the full potential of
wind resources for the country.
WSP served as the technical advisory to
Diaz Wind Power for the development of the
wind farm, where the consulting company’s
power team of experts were involved
in preparing the minimum functional
specifications and tender documents for the
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
(EPC) contractor, as well as the Operations
and Maintenance (O&M) agreement at the
start of the project. Thereafter, the team
was responsible for reviewing and
evaluating the EPC contract and O&M
agreement proposals, to optimise on
and finalise them with the nominated
contractors for this project.
The company’s experts compiled the due
diligence review report, supported the review
and development of the project agreement’s
technical aspects and undertook a thorough
review of the environmental impact
assessment – where their transmission
line and substation specifications review
services played a vital role in ensuring
the project achieved its goals. Further to
this, the company’s experts negotiated
the power-purchase agreement (PPA) and
general services agreement documentation,
while providing stability studies and services
to financial close on the project.
WSP has since also performed a
detailed grid study, which determined
that the capacity on the connecting grid
infrastructure is up to 90 MW – this means
the wind resource is so good in the loc-
ation that there is excess capacity to upsize
and increase the project capacity at the
earliest opportunity.
and Port Alfred. We are also upgrading the
R61 route between Bizana and Magusheni in
that province.”
In the North West, Concor Infrastructure
is constructing what was previously a gravel
road between the small towns of Ganyesa
and Vragas, while on another SANRAL
project work is underway upgrading the R67
Queenstown-Whittlesea road.
Energy
The company has played in important role
over the years in the energy sector, and
continues to be involved in power station
construction. An exciting and more recent
segment opening up for opportunity has
been renewable energy, in particular the
growth of wind-generated power.
“We were involved in South Africa’s first
large wind farm, between Jeffreys Bay and
Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape, as early as
2012, where we provided site access roads
as well as foundations and hard stands for
60 turbines,” Wisse says.
“We have continued to build our
experience in this field, and today stand as
the preferred civil contractor on a number of
wind projects that form part of bid window
4 of the REIPP programme led by the
Department of Energy.”
Past projects in this sector include the
35 turbine wind farm near Noupoort in the
Northern Cape, completed in March 2016,
and a wind farm near De Aar comprising
67 turbines where Concor Infrastructure
finished its work early this year.
Most recently, Concor Infrastructure
was responsible for the substantial
Concor Infrastructure was involved in a number of wind farms including Loeriesfontein and
Khobab in the Northern Cape where 122 wind turbine generator foundations were constructed.
completion of the Loeriesfontein and
Khobab Wind Farm. This contract comprises
the construction of all 122 wind turbine
generator foundations as well as the
adjoining hard stands and all internal roads.
Water
The water sector – mainly bulk supply
and large dams – is another important
area of expertise built up over decades in
the business.
The company was a vital partner in the
recently completed Ingula pumped storage
scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, building both the
upper and lower dams. More recent work
includes the completion of a large reservoir
at Orange Farm south of Johannesburg, and
a water tower and reservoir in the Lanseria
area of Gauteng.
Mining
A fourth significant sector of Concor
Infrastructure’s involvement has been
mining. Despite the downturn in the fortunes
of this sector in recent years, the company
is currently busy with civil works to expand
the important Grootegeluk coal mine for
Exxaro and expects the mining market to
recover soon.
The traditional focus in this segment
includes all civil mining infrastructure
including haul roads, platform and
foundations for process plants, rail load-out
sidings, box-cuts for incline shafts and other
related surface infrastructure.
With its new ownership credentials,
Concor Infrastructure is poised for an
exciting expansion phase, says Wisse.
Namibia’s Diaz
Wind Farm
WSP Africa – one of the largest
multi-disciplinary engineering
consultancies on the continent –
has played a pivotal role in bringing
about the development of the Diaz
Wind Farm in Namibia. The wind farm
aims to bring an additional 44 MW
to Namibia’s national grid, which will
also alleviate some of the pressure
on the Southern African grid.
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