EDF - Environmental and Social Scoping Report for the Proposed Ntabande Wind Energy Facility and Associated Infrastructure, Mpumalanga Province

EDF Renewables (Pty) Ltd (EDF-R) is proposing to apply for Environmental Authorisation (EA) to develop the Ntabande Wind Farm site through the special purpose vehicle of Ntabande Wind Power (Pty) Ltd (Ntabande) (the proposed Project). The purpose of the proposed Project is to provide additional megawatts to the country’s electricity system through private sector investment in renewable energy. Ntabande will form part of a larger cluster, known as the Daggakraal Wind Farm Cluster (Northern Cluster).

As per the National Environment Management Act, 107 (Act 107 of 1998, as amended) (NEMA) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations (4 December 2014, Government Notice (GN) R982, R983, R984 and R985, as amended), a Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting (S&EIR) process will be followed for Ntabande due to various aspects of the proposed development posing potential impact on the environment and are considered to be listed activities. These activities require authorisation from the Competent Authority (CA), namely the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE), prior to the commencement thereof.

Specialist studies have been commissioned to verify the sensitivity and assess the impacts of Ntabande under the Gazetted specialist protocols (GN R 320 and GN R 1150 of 2020 and GN 3717 of 2023). A formal application for an EA for Daggafoort will be submitted to the DFFE as the capacity of Ntabande is projected to exceed 100MW (up to 500 MW).

SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR), an independent firm of Environmental Assessment Practitioners, has been appointed by EDF to manage the environmental authorisation processes.

Status

Notice is hereby given, in terms of the EIA Regulations, 2014 promulgated under NEMA, that the Scoping Report prepared for the above-mentioned project has been made available for a 30-day public review and comment period from 20 September 2024 - 21 October 2024.

Should you and/or your organisation wish to comment on any aspect of the Scoping Report, comments should be forwarded to SLR at the email address and telephone number shown above. For comments to be included in the Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment Report prepared for the decision-making purposes, they should reach SLR by no later than 21 October 2024.

By providing your personal information to submit a comment, you will be included in the SLR an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) database, and you consent to SLR managing your information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. It is assumed that as an I&AP for this Project you authorise SLR to retain and use your Personal Information as part of a contact database for this and/or other Social and Environmental Impact Assessments (ESIA) and that you confirm your acceptance for SLR to contact you regarding this and/or other ESIA processes. SLR will not process your Personal Information, other than as permitted or required by ESIA processes, or as required by law or public policy. SLR will use reasonable, appropriate security safeguards to protect Personal Information, and to reasonably prevent any damage to, loss of, or unauthorised access or disclosure of Personal Information, other than as required for ESIA processes or as required by any Law or public policy. You may request for your Personal Information to be deleted from the I&AP database at any time by contacting SLR.