JG Afrika, a leading engineering consultancy with a track record spanning over 100 years, provides cutting-edge technical services and maintains a close association with the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme.
Developers of utility-scale renewable energy projects harness the company’s broad spectrum of engineering disciplines to accelerate the delivery of additional energy to a severely strained national grid. Importantly, this approach diversifies South Africa’s energy mix by including renewable sources of power, thereby reducing the country’s reliance on fossil-fuel-based electricity. Notably, the company has already completed numerous preliminary internal and access road layouts for prominent wind farm developers under the REIPPP programme.
To date, JG Afrika has undertaken between 50 and 60 preliminary internal and access road layouts for over 20 wind farms, predominantly situated in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga. These projects contribute significantly to the country’s total installed wind capacity of over 3,000 MW.
The company sends these designs to the project developers and various experts to inform the Environmental Impact Assessments for these projects. Determining the shortest possible route to connect the various wind turbine generators via road in the most economical manner presents a complex challenge.
Renewable energy projects span vast tracts of land with substantial distances between wind turbine generators. A single wind farm can comprise up to 60 wind turbine generators positioned on hardstand areas, facilitating temporary laydown for tower sections, blades, and cranes during construction. An intricate road network, comprising 20 to 40 roads per wind energy facility, connects these areas.
The largest wind farm, for which internal and access road layouts were completed by JG Afrika, was situated on approximately 28,000 hectares of mountainous terrain. During road layout planning, the company’s design engineers consider sensitive environmental areas and existing infrastructure, as well as the design parameters of heavy vehicles transporting wind turbine generator components to hardstand areas. These vehicles must navigate gradients and curves, imposing substantial restrictions on road alignments.
Wimpie Krügel, an Engineer in JG Afrika’s Roads & Highway Division and a Road Safety Auditor, has played an instrumental role in streamlining the methods deployed by JG Afrika for preliminary design of internal and access roads for wind farms. Krügel’s participation in these projects provides opportunities to enhance efficiencies and increase turnaround time, a significant competitive edge considering the fast-track nature of these projects.
“We have been refining our processes since we started undertaking preliminary internal and access road layouts for wind farms in 2020. JG Afrika is now able to complete the entire process, spanning modeling through to design and output, within two to three weeks. This is a fraction of the time it would usually take, as the actual preliminary design of one road can take up to a day to complete,” Krügel says.
To realize faster design that is applicable and up to standard, he improved the interplay between Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software and data management software. Krügel first experimented with this idea in 2014 during the design of a 320km gravel road upgrade to asphalt standard in northern Zambia along the Angola border.
The method proved successful, generating over 320 design drawings with horizontal and vertical layouts systematically in a few months to meet tight project deadlines by integrating data processing with CAD software. This system fast-tracked the road design process and finalized the alignments for submission to clients and specialists working on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in the renewables field.
The system underwent further development for the design of unique vertical alignment constraints of roads for wind farms, taking into consideration factors such as maximum gradients allowed and minimum curve radii to accommodate abnormal loads such as blades and tower sections.
Data, such as turbine positions and environmentally sensitive areas, received from clients for preliminary internal and access road layouts are typically in Google Earth KMZ file format. These are then converted and imported into CAD software, where they are loaded to build the model. Subsequently, publicly available digital terrain data are processed to create digital elevation models for the design process on CAD design packages.
The roads are designed using the 3D terrain model, with environmental impact and construction footprint minimized by determining the shortest routes between wind turbines and substations while adhering to minimum alignment design parameters.
The entire process concludes by exporting the design back to KMZ files and sending it to the client and specialists working on EIAs. Once inputs have been received from various participants, the process is repeated.
JG Afrika’s role in accelerating wind energy delivery in the country is emphasized by Krügel, foreseeing significant opportunities for the firm as renewable energy is projected to reach 138TWh by 2040, creating ample opportunities for market players with the necessary skills and experience, such as JG Afrika, during this period.
“Our Roads Department, together with the capabilities within our Traffic and Geotechnical Engineering Departments, is strategically positioned to continue delivering wind energy in the country,” Krügel concludes.