PROPOSED ALDHIBAH BESS & ALTAIR BESS PROJECTS, WATERBERG DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, LIMPOPO PROVINCE

Aldhibah Energy (Pty) Ltd & Altair Energy (Pty) Ltd are proposing the establishment of 2 battery energy storage facilities (BESS) with associated infrastructure on Portion 2 of Farm HOEDSPRUIT 298 JQ (68 ha in extent) located within Rustenburg Local Municipality, Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province. The Project Site is located 18 km East of Rustenburg and 12 km South-East of the Eskom MARANG Main Transmission Substation (MTS).
The proposed battery energy storage facilities will consist of three Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects with a Maximum Export Capacity up to 100 MW each and up to 4-hour storage capacity (400 MVA each) to be established on a development area (footprint) up to 10.0 ha each.

Each of the three proposed Battery Energy Storage Systems, with a Maximum Export Capacity up to 100 MW each and up to 400 MWh (4-hour) storage capacity, will consist of the installation of the following equipment and connection infrastructure:
•Up to 240 Conversion Modules (containers up to 36 m2 each), with a storage capacity of 3.0 MWh each (1-hour storage), installed on concrete platforms. These will house the batteries, management system and auxiliaries.
•Up to 40 Power Conversion Units, each formed by 6 Conversion Modules, cooling units, DC/AC inverters and a medium-voltage transformer of 3.5 MVA, with an installed capacity of 3.0 MW each and a storage capacity of 12.0 MWh each (4-hour storage).
On-site high-voltage substation, equipped with one 22kV/88kV 125 MVA step-up transformer (plus one as spare), a 22kV switchgear, an 88kV busbar (switching station) with metering and protection devices and control buildings.
•One 88 kV power line, between 12 - 13 km long (depending on the location of the BESS and on the powerline alignment), from the 88kV busbar of the on-site substation up to the Eskom Bighorn Transmission Substation
•Workshops & warehouses
•Electrical system and UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) devices, lighting system and grounding system
•Firefighting system
•Access road
•Internal access roads up to 8.0 m wide between rows of containers
•Fencing of the site, alarm and video-surveillance system
•Water access point, water supply pipelines, water treatment facilities (for the control buildings)

During the construction phase, the site may be provided with additional:
•Water access point, water supply pipelines, water treatment facilities
•Prefabricated buildings
•Workshops & warehouses to be removed at the end of construction.
The connection may entail the extension of the 88 kV busbar of the Eskom BIGHORN Main Transmission Substation for the establishment of new 88 kV bus-bays, according to Eskom’s connection requirements/solution.
Batteries to be installed in containers will be Lithium-ion and battery cells will be pre-assembled at the supplier prior to delivery. NO electrolytes will be transported to and handled on site.
The Battery System will be able to store electrical energy and charge and discharge electrical energy when connected to a Power Conversion Unit (PCU), which performs the current conversion from low-voltage, direct current (LV DC), to medium-voltage, alternating current (MV AC) (and vice versa).
A Battery Energy Storage System is capable to provide multiple services to the transmission network, adding flexibility to the system. Possible applications include amongst others: generation time shifting, unbalancing reduction, curtailment avoidance, frequency regulation, voltage support, spinning reserve.
The 2 BESS projects will be connected to the Eskom MARANG Main Transmission Substation (MTS) through 3x88kV Powerlines A Powerline Study Corridor 13 km long have been proposed for the required 3 x 88kV powerlines, for connection of the three BESS projects to the Eskom MARANG MTS. The proposed Powerline Study Corridor runs from the North-Western corner of the Project Site, in a Northern direction for the first 2 km, parallel to the Eskom Turf Shaft - Marikana 1 88kV powerline; then turning in a North-Western direction, running parallel to three Eskom Transmission Powerlines (“Bighorn - Trident 1” 275kV circuit, “Marang - Bighorn 1” 400kV circuit and “Medupi - Marang 1” 400kV circuit) for 10 km; finally turning south-west for 1 km where it will connect to the Eskom Marang substation.

For the 3x88kV powerlines, two alternative powerline alignments are proposed, within the Powerline Study Corridor:
1)Powerline Alignment, Alternative 1: 12.5 km long (measured from the North-Western corner of the Project Site), running parallel to the Eastern side of the Eskom Turf Shaft - Marikana 1 88kV powerline and parallel to the Northern side of the three Eskom Transmission Powerlines mentioned above.
2)Powerline Alignment, Alternative 2: 12.0 km long (measured from the North-Western corner of the Project Site), running parallel to the Western side of the Eskom Turf Shaft - Marikana 1 88kV powerline and parallel to the Southern side of the three Eskom Transmission Powerlines mentioned above.
The following properties are potentially crossed by the 3x88kV powerlines, depending on the final alignment:
•Portion 2 of Farm HOEDSPRUIT 298 JQ (the Project Site)
•Portions 3, 5, 6, 7 and 10 of Farm HOEDSPRUIT 298 JQ (property of the RSA)
•Farm TURFFONTEIN 302 JQ (property of the RSA)
-Farm KLIPGAT 281 JQ (property of the RSA).
Province(s): North West