Crossroads Green Energy Cluster of Renewable Energy Facilities

NOTICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESSES AND AVAILABILITY OF THE SCOPING REPORTS FOR REVIEW AND COMMENT FOR THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF THE CROSSROADS GREEN ENERGY CLUSTER OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FACILITIES, PIXLEY KA SEME DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE

Applicants: Akuo Energy Afrique

Proposed Activity: Crossroads Green Energy (Phase 1) entails the development of nine (9) solar energy facilities. The following infrastructure will be associated with the developments.

• Solar PV array comprising PV modules and mounting structures (monofacial or bifacial and a single axis tracking system)
• Inverters and transformers
• Cabling between the project components
• Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
• On-site facility substation and power lines between the solar PV facility and the Eskom substation (to be confirmed and assessed through a separate process)
• Site offices, Security office, operations and control, and maintenance and storage laydown areas
• Access roads, internal distribution roads

Each renewable energy facility will be constructed and operated as a separate stand-alone project and therefore, separate Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (S&EIA) processes will be undertaken for each of the renewable energy facilities.  Grid infrastructure for the project is to be confirmed in consultation with Eskom and will be assessed through a separate EIA process.

Project Location: The projects are located approximately 20km north of Philipstown and 30km west of Petrusville within the Renosterberg Local Municipality and the greater Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, Northern Cape Province.

Environmental Impact Assessment Processes:  In terms of Sections 24 and 24D of the National Environmental Management Act (No 107 of 1998), as read with Government Notice R324 – R327, as amended, an EIA process is required for each renewable energy facility. Savannah Environmental is undertaking the required EIA, and public participation processes for these projects.  A Background Information Document (BID) providing further information on the projects is available on the Savannah Environmental website at https://savannahsa.com/public-documents/energy-generation/hydra-b-cluster/.

Scoping Reports available for review & comment:  The Scoping Reports for the projects are available for download, review & comment on the Savannah Environmental website (see link above).  The 30-day review & comment period of the Scoping Reports are as follows:

Project			Review period
Tafelkop Solar PV	Koppy Alleen Solar PV	Vrede Solar PV	Friday, 13 January 2023 to Monday, 13 February 2023
Zionsheuvel Solar PV	Amper Daar Solar PV	Wag-‘n-Bietjie Solar PV	Monday, 16 January 2023 to Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Ruspoort Solar PV1	Ruspoort Solar PV2	Middelplaas Solar PV	Wednesday, 18 January 2023 to Friday, 17 February 2023

To obtain further information and register on the project database and submit comments or queries, please refer to the contact information below.

Nicolene Venter of Savannah Environmental

P.O. Box 148, Sunninghill, 2157
Tel: 011 656 3237
Mobile: 060 978 8396 (including pls call me)
Fax: 086 684 0547
Email: publicprocess@savannahsa.com

Documents for public review are available for download.

Please click on the “Register Interest” button to obtain the Registration Code to access the project’s documents under the “View Download Page.”