Excelsior wind energy facility

The Excelsior wind energy facility is a 32.5MW facility  located 30km southwest of the town of Swellendam, within the Swellendam Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province. The project was awarded preferred bidder status under the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme (REIPPPP) bid window 4 in 2015 and reached financial close in 2018. The project comprises of 13 Gold Wind 2.5MW permanent magnetic direct drive turbines. The project covers an area of 2,300ha and once operational, it will be generating over 132GWh of renewable power each year, enough to power 16,000 households.

Like all of BTE Renewable projects, Excelsior is active in the local community in which it operates. For example, during the construction phase, the project sponsored Railton Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works on integrated sustainable development through promoting education, healthcare, sport, youth development and reconciliation in the Swellendam area. The sponsorship will assist the foundation to facilitate training in MICT-SETA accredited end-user computing training courses.  A windfarm drawing competition where learners were awarded cash prizes and Lego sets in partnership with the EPC contractor of the project. The aim of the initiative was to improve community awareness (education) and goodwill on windfarms. As we begin operations, investments in the community will increase as we develop and build partnerships in the local area.

Excelsior reached commercial operation in December 2020.