OVERBERG RENOSTERVELD CONSERVATION TRUST NEWS

Newsletter 36 | April 2025

by Dr Odette Curtis-Scott

Some good and bad renosterveld news this Earth Day

Not many know about a major new windfarm that has been approved in the Overberg. It’s to be situated along the N2, close to Swellendam. And it will be South Africa’s largest, privately-owned windfarm.  

Today is Earth Day – so we’re popping into your inbox with some good and some bad news.

The 2025 Earth Day theme is to unite people behind renewable energy. That’s why this news of a new windfarm is great in our country’s efforts to adopt clean energy.  

But the direct impacts on our natural world are often not front of mind in big developments like this. And over the past few years, we’ve seen how bird species, such as the enigmatic and Endangered Black Harrier, is bearing the brunt of wind turbine collisions across the country.  

Here’s the good news

This new windfarm has made some big environmental commitments. And we will watch these developments with intense interest. For example, not only will they adopt the shutdown-on-demand approach, where wind turbines will be shut down when species of conservation concern get too close. But they have also committed to painting wind turbine blades, making these turbines more visible to many birds. 

This will prove to be a vital test of painted or patterned blades, which has shown to be effective in other countries.

These commitments are the result of an incredible group of experts – including BirdLife South Africa and Hawkwatch’s Megan Murgatroyd, who teamed up with the ORT to appeal to the windfarm to make bigger commitments to mitigation than what they had originally proposed.

We’ll be sharing more on this story soon, as this process rolls out. So keep an eye on our social media for more.

Working with landowners to prevent extinction 

And keep reading this email for some other good news for renosterveld – as we continue to work with wonderful landowners, to protect renosterveld in the Overberg, to prevent an otherwise likely extinction of an intricate, complex and extraordinary ecosystem. 

Kind regards,
Odette Curtis-Scott