Updated 11 October 2025: EDF Renewables commissioned the Koruson 400/132 kV Main Transmission Substation (MTS) on October 10, 2024, marking South Africa’s first full self-build transmission station by an Independent Power Producer. The facility will link up to 1.5 GW of renewable energy to the national grid, strengthening transmission capacity in the Northern Cape.
The Koruson 1 wind farm cluster, comprising the Phezukomoya, San Kraal, and Coleskop sites totaling 420 MW, continues to advance toward completion. The adoption of hollow-cast turbine foundations has lowered both material costs and emissions, with commercial operations now ongoing since early this year.
The project stands among the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy undertakings, aligning with South Africa’s growing clean energy portfolio highlighted in the top five wind farms in South Africa. Once operational, Koruson 1 will supply power to thousands of homes and contribute significantly to the country’s decarbonization goals.
South Africa’s Koruson 1 wind farm project progressing well
Construction of the Koruson 1 cluster of three wind farms (Phezukomoya, San Kraal and Coleskop) outside Middelburg and Noupoort, is well underway, with half of the of 237 turbine blades and other components required, having been delivered from Coega port via the R75 and N10 to the three sites. Each blade on the turbines is 81.35m long, with a weight of 28 tons. Developed by EDF Renewables in partnership with H1 Holdings, GIBB-Crede and a local community trust, each wind farm has a capacity of 140 MW, with a total installed capacity of 420 MW. This makes the biggest wind farm ever built in Africa, The total investment in the project is 11bn ZAR.
The scale of the Koruson 1 project is massive with the three sites spread across 50 square km. There are 78 wind turbines which will be installed on concrete towers, now being assembled and erected across the three sites. The 124m high concrete towers each comprise 50 keystones, all manufactured locally at a concrete tower factory outside Middelburg.
In addition to the three windfarms, a main transmission station and three substations are under construction to transmit the power to Eskom. The construction works are all progressing rapidly towards commissioning, and the Commercial Operations Date (COD) is planned for first quarter of 2025.
The project which is is part of Round 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme, and will contribute to reducing the energy deficit in South Africa.
Approximately 3800 workers are currently on site. The project is creating significant employment, and local resources and businesses are being utilized wherever possible. More than 40% of the project’s value is comprises South African goods and services, and 1,25% of revenue generated by the projects over their contractual period will be applied to socio-economic development initiatives for nearby local communities.
