The wind farm’s primary areas of community development are in Cookhouse, Somerset East, Bedford and Adelaide. The project committed 1% of its total revenue towards socio-economic development. A community trust holds 25% of the shares in the project company.
The Cookhouse wind farm is a 138.6MW project comprising 66 2.1MW Suzlon turbines. The Department of Energy approved the project in Round 1 of the REIPPPP. It is situated on farmland close to the town of Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape and has been fully operational since Nov 2014.
The wind farm’s primary areas of community development are in Cookhouse, Somerset East, Bedford and Adelaide. The project committed 1% of its total revenue towards socio-economic development. A community trust holds 25% of the shares in the project company.
Community benefit highlights
- Flagship programme: Early childhood development programme including training for practitioners and parents, nutrition and management support.
- Computer lab for primary school
- Skills development for local employees through wind technician training center
- Foster care and feeding scheme and counseling for children in need
- Training and operational support for home based care-givers
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Community benefits created to-date
Investment of community funds to date
| Socio-Economic Development |
| R 7.2 mil |
| Enterprise Development |
|
Voluntary criteria and the Cookhouse wind farm focuses on SED |
Community ownership
The Cookhouse wind farm trust holds 25% of the total shares in the wind farm project company. The beneficiaries of the trust’s activities are the residents of the of Cookhouse, Somerset East, Bedford and Adelaide. For the next 3 years the Community Trusts focus will primarily be to improve primary and high school education, with the an emphasis on Mathematics, Science, Literacy, Numeracy and Youth Leadership Development.
