The Proposed Blesbok PV and Associated Infrastructure near Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng Province

Blesbok PV (Pty) Ltd, is proposing the construction of a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facility (known as the Blesbok PV Facility) located on Portions 5, 6, 31, the Remainder of Portion 7 and the Remaining Extent of the Farm Blesbokfontein No. 580, approximately 5 km north west of Vanderbijlpark in the Gauteng Province. The solar PV facility will comprise several arrays of PV panels and associated infrastructure and will have a contracted capacity of up to 100 MW. The development area is situated within the Emfuleni Local Municipality within the Sedibeng District Municipality. The site is accessible via the N1 road, located adjacent to the east of the development area, and existing gravel farm roads.

The proposed Blesbok PV Facility will cover approximately 200 ha and will include the following infrastructure:
• PV Panel Array to enable the generation of up to 100 MW of electricity.
• Inverters, transformers, and cabling are required to connect the PV array and thereby enabling the conversion of direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC) electricity at grid frequency.
• Grid connection infrastructure is required to connect the PV array to the electrical grid. The grid connection infrastructure required includes a 132 kV overhead power line connecting the on-site switching station to the existing 132 kV Eskom Powerlines via a Loop-In-Loop-Out (LILO) connection. A 230 m wide and up to 330 m long grid corridor was identified for assessment.
• Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) / facilities are required for the storage of generated electricity.
• Supporting infrastructure is required in the form of auxiliary buildings (including basic services such as water and electricity). These include an operations and maintenance building / offices, switch room, ablution facilities, switch gear and relay room, a gate house and security control, control centre, warehouses and workshops for storage and maintenance, staff lockers and changing room.
• Temporary and permanent laydown areas.
• Roads are required to access the site, as well as internally to access the various project components.
• For health, safety and security reasons, the facility will be required to be fenced off from the surrounding farms.

Province(s): Gauteng