Dear stakeholders
Jones & Wagener (Pty) Ltd Engineering and Environmental Consultants (J&W) would like to inform you that Environmental Authorisations (EA) have been received for the development of the Tutuka Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Energy Facility (SEF) Cluster near Thuthukani in the Gert Sibande District , Lekwa Local Municipality in the Mpumalanga Province.
The development consists of the following which were authorised in three separate EAs:
- Nalithuba SEF, (120 MW) on Portion No. 6 and Portion No. 5 of the Farm Uitkyk No. 377;
- Imvuselelo SEF, (130 MW) on Portion No. 6 and Remainder of Portion No. 1 of the Farm Uitkyk No. 377; and
- The Tutuka SEF Cluster electrical grid connection infrastructure (EGI) consistng of a 132kV switching station (SS) (adjacent to the 33kV on site substation), a collector substation (CS) and a 132kV power line connecting the facilities to the existing Alpha Main Transmission Substation (MTS). The location of the EGI is as follows:
- Portion 1 of the Farm Uitkyk No. 377 IS
- Portion 6 of the Farm Uitkyk No. 377 IS
- Portion 15 of the Farm Niekerksvley No. 380 IS
- Portion 22 of the Farm Niekerksvley No. 380 IS
- Portion 1 of the Farm Mooimeisiesfontein No. 376 IS
- Portion 8 of the Farm Mooimeisiesfontein No. 376 IS
- Portion 1 of the Farm Spioen Kop No. 375 IS
- Portion 2 of the Farm Spioen Kop No. 375 IS
The EAs (please see below) were granted to South Africa Mainstream Renewable Power Developments (Pty) Ltd by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No.107 of 1998) as amended and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations – GNR 982 to GNR 985 of 4 December 2014, as amended. The EAs for the Imvuselelo and Nalithuba SEFs were signed on 9 January 2025, whilst the EA for the EGI was signed on 13 January 2025.
As required, all registered interested and affected parties must be notified of the decision within 14 days of the of the date of receiving the Department’s decision. We would hereby like to draw your attention to the EIA Regulations, 2014 (please see below), which prescribes the appeal procedure to be followed. As Interested and Affected Parties you will have the opportunity to appeal any aspect of the decision within 20 days of this notification.
Should any party wish to appeal any aspect of the decision, an appeal must be submitted to the appeal administrator, and a copy of the appeal to the applicant within 20 days of the date the EAs were sent to Interested and Affected Parties.
Appeals must be submitted in writing in the prescribed form to:
The Director: Appeals and Legal Review of the DFFE
Email: appeals@dffe.gov.za
By hand: Environment House, 473 Steve Biko, Arcadia, Pretoria, 0083
By post: Private Bag X447, Pretoria, 0001
The prescribed appeal form can be obtained from https://www.environment.gov.za/documents/forms#legal_authorisations or request a copy at appeals@dffe.gov.za.
Please note that the reasons and decisions for granting the authorisation are included in the EAs. The EAs are provided below.
Imvuselelo SEF EA
Nalithuba SEF EA
Tutuka EGI EA
National Appeals Regulations
Should you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.