Umoya Energy owns and operates the Hopefield Wind Farm, a 67 MW wind farm in the Western Cape consisting of 37 wind turbines.  Umoya was selected as a preferred bidder in Round 1 of the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in December 2011.  Construction commenced in November 2012 and was the first utility-scale wind farm in South Africa to commence commercial operations on 1 February 2014.

Hopefield Wind Farm was the first REIPPPP wind project to receive Environmental Authorisation in South Africa, the first to prove radar compliance with the SA Air Force, the first to achieve re-zoning of land to “Special – Renewable Energy Generation”, and was an early player in the interactions with the grid operator to prove grid code compliance and gain support for embedded renewable energy generation.

Hopefield Wind Farm generates and supplies renewable energy to the national grid, which will provide clean power to thousands of South African homes through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Eskom (South Africa’s state-owned electricity company). More than 1100 people were employed during the construction phase of Hopefield Wind Farm. Beyond its contribution to sustainable and environmentally friendly electricity generation, Umoya has and will continue to bring job creation and socioeconomic development to the local communities within which it operates.

Its flagship socio-economic project is the Hopefield Home Improvement Project where over a period of two years, 18 previously unemployed residents were trained and now work as artisans making improvements to more than 600 homes in this small town.