ELECTRAWINDS Belgium has started construction of its first wind turbine in the Coega Industrial Development Zone in Port Elizabeth.

The wind turbine will be completed in time to provide energy for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium during the World Cup.

Electrawinds has invested R1.2billion in the Coega Wind Farm Project to build 25 turbines. Each turbine has a capacity of 1.8MW which translates into an annual yield 5700000kWh, enough energy to power about 1700 households. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid and distributed by Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan municipality to households within the metro.

When completed, the wind farm will be able to supply Nelson Mandela Bay with an average of 45MW of green energy.

According to Luc Desender, managing director of Electrawinds, the construction marks the first commercial wind project in South Africa and for Electrawinds its first operational project outside Europe.

The first turbine units arrived from Denmark on Sunday at the Port of Ngqura. A R70million special crane will be used to erect the turbines.

Desender says overall, 133 indirect construction jobs, 55 construction jobs and 12 permanent jobs will be created during the building of the wind farm, which will be completed in 2011.