Proposed Wind Energy Facility Situated on the Eastern Plateau (South) near De Aar

APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION FOR THE PROPOSED WIND ENERGY FACILITY SITUATED ON THE EASTERN PLATEAU (SOUTH) NEAR DE AAR, NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE: NOTIFICATION OF DECISION

(DEA Ref No: 12/12/20/2463/1/AM3)

Longyuan Mulilo De Aar 2 South (Pty) Ltd (hereafter referred to as the Applicant) applied for an amendment of the Environmental Authorisation (EA) in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations (2014) for the proposed wind energy facility (WEF) situated on the eastern plateau (south) near De Aar in the Northern Cape Province.

On 1 March 2013, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) granted environmental authorisation in connection with the proposed project for Items 10, 11 & 18 of GN R.544; Item 1 of GN R. 545; and Item 14 of GN R.546 in the 2010 EIA Regulations. On 24 July 2014, a further environmental authorisation for the proposed project was granted in respect of Items 13 & 16 of GN 546 by the Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation (DENC).

An Application for Amendment of the EA was submitted to DEA in terms of the NEMA EIA Regulations (2014). The Applicant applied for an amendment to the project description, as well as a correction of a typographical error in the EA. The proposed amendments included increasing the generating size of the wind turbine generators (WTG) to align to current international WTG models, while reducing the number of WTG’s at the WEF (i.e. reduced from 103 to approximately 61). The proposed amendments included: increasing the hub heights and blade lengths of the WTG’s, increasing the generation size of the WTG’s from the approved 1.5MW – 2.5MW to 2.3MW – 4MW, and minor refinements to the layout. The generation capacity of the WEF would be 140MW.

All Interested and/or Affected Parties are hereby notified that DEA has amended the Environmental Authorisation dated 1 March 2013 (as amended). The decision to amend the Environmental Authorisation, which was dated 25 January 2016 and received by the Applicant on 16 February 2016, is available on request.

We would like to draw your attention to your right to appeal against the decision to the Minister in terms of Section 43 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 read in conjunction with the National Appeal Regulations.  In this regard, your attention is drawn to Chapter 2 of Government Notice No. 993, which prescribes the appeal procedure to be followed. Any person who wishes to appeal must lodge a Notice of Intention to Appeal with the Minister within 20 calendar days of the date that the Applicant received the DEA decision.  The Appeal must be submitted within 30 days of the lodging of the Notice of Intention to Appeal.  All Notice of Intention to Appeal and Appeal Forms must be submitted by means of one of the following methods:

By post: Private Bag X447, Pretoria, 0001; or

By hand: Environment House, 437 Steve Biko Road, Arcadia, Pretoria.

Appeals must be submitted in writing to: Mr Z Hassam, Director: Appeals and Legal Review (Department of Environmental Affairs) at one of the above mentioned addresses. Mr Hassam can also be contacted at: Tel: (012) 399 9356 or Email: AppealsDirectorate@environment.gov.za