Hydra B Grid

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 HYDRA B CLUSTER OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FACILITIES AND GRID CONNECTION INFRASTRUCTURE, PIXLEY KA SEME DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE

Applicant: Akuo Energy Afrique

Proposed Activity: Hydra B Cluster (the “Cluster”) entails the development of twenty-one (21) 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 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.  The projects will be considered through the EIA process in batches, with Batch 1 considering 11 projects, Batch 2 considering 6 projects and Batch 3 considering 4 projects.  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 Pixley ka Seme District Municipality in the Northern Cape Province.  The projects are proposed on the following farms:

No	Project name	Farm Name and portion Number	Capacity
HYDRA B PHASE 1
BATCH 1
1	Tafelkop Solar PV Facility	Portion 3 of the Farm Grass Pan 40	240MW
2	Koppy Alleen Solar PV Facility	Portion 5 of the Farm Koppy Alleen 83	100MW
3	Vrede Solar PV Facility	Portion 5 of the Farm Bas Berg 88	150MW
4	Zionsheuvel Solar PV Facility	Remainder of Farm Leeuwberg 79	240MW
BATCH 2
5	Amper Daar Solar PV Facility	Remainder of Farm Wolwe Kuil 44	100MW
6	Wag-‘n-Bietjie Solar PV Facility	Portion 1 of the Farm Leeuwe Berg 45	100MW
7.1	Ruspoort 1 Solar PV Facility (Option A)	Portion 5 of the Farm Bokken Kraal 81 (Option A)	100MW
7.2	Ruspoort 1 Solar PV Facility (Option B)	Portion 4 on the Farm Knoffelfontein 74 Portion 1 on the Farm 78 Portion 2 on the Farm Leeuwberg 79 (Option B)	100MW
8	Ruspoort 2 Solar PV Facility	Portion 2 of the Farm Leeuwberg 79	100MW
BATCH 3
9	JW Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Plaas 196	240MW
10	Pro Deo Solar PV Facility	Portion 1 of the Farm Grass Pan 40	100MW
11	Uitkyk Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Plaas 197	100MW
HYDRA B PHASE 2
12	Middelplaas Solar PV Facility	Portion 4 of the Farm Grass Pan 40	100MW
13	Kareekloof Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Swart Koppies 86	100MW
14	Oosthuisfontein Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Oosthuisfontein 108	100MW
15	JAN Solar PV Facility	Portion 1 of the Farm Schaap Kraal 38, Portion 1 of the Farm Annex Donker Hoek 89; and Remainder of Farm Kuhns Post 90	240MW
16	Driefontein Solar PV Facility	Portion 1 of the Farm Driefontein 87	100MW
17	Jagpoort Solar PV Facility	Portion 2 of the Farm Driefontein 87, Portion 3 of the Farm Driefontein 87, and Portion 2 of the Farm Kareekloof 85	150MW
HYDRA B PHASE 3
18	Strydam Solar PV Facility	Portion 3 of the Farm Stryd Dam 107	240MW
19	Roodekraal Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Roode Kraal 106	150MW
20	Bokkraal Solar PV Facility	Remainder of the Farm Bokken Kraal 81	100MW
21	HCA Solar PV Facility	Portion 4 of the Farm Koppy Alleen 83	100MW

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

Scoping Reports available for review & comment:  The Scoping Reports for each of the Batches listed above 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
Hydra B: Batch 1 (Projects 1 – 4)	Monday, 18 July 2022 until Thursday, 18 August 2022
Hydra B: Batch 2 (Projects 5 – 8)	Wednesday, 20 July 2022 until Monday, 22 August 2022
Hydra B: Batch 3 (Projects 9 – 11)	Friday, 22 July 2022 until Monday, 22 August 2022

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 publicprocess@savannahsa.com to access the document.