Cape Town’s iconic V&A Waterfront has installed several mini wind turbines to help the precinct reduce its reliance on diesel generators, and to gauge the viability of a wider roll out.
The V&A, a mixed-use development that welcomed 25 million visitors in 2023, has long relied on costly and polluting diesel generators to keep the lights on amid South Africa’s ongoing power crisis.
The addition of some 4 megawatts of rooftop solar in recent years, plus battery storage, has cut its diesel requirements, and the precinct sees the small wind turbines as a further complement.
Four vertical turbines with a generating capacity of 1 kilowatt (kW) each have been commissioned in the V&A’s Silo District, while a larger 3kW unit near the Breakwater parking area will soon start delivering power. The turbines were made by German group LuvSide.
Because they’ll be capable of generating electricity after the sun has set, the turbines will “help to ensure that batteries can be charged around the clock – given the right wind conditions,” the V&A and LuvSide said in a joint statement.
The pilot project will serve as “an example for other cities to follow in making small wind turbines acceptable in urban areas,” they added.
“These small-scale vertical wind turbines are not only aesthetically pleasing, but their ability to capture wind from any direction, and compact size, offer the opportunity to string multiple units, like streetlights, making it ideal for the urban environment,” said Petro Myburg, head of sustainability at the V&A Waterfront.
“The turbines look like a piece of art or sculpture and therefore fit very, very well into the waterfront,” said Tanja Werheit of the German Consul General of Cape Town.
LuvSide said it aims to expand across South Africa and will make “some system components” locally.
