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Cape Town - Why not build wind turbines on Table Mountain, an ANC politician asked senior Eskom officials on Tuesday.
The enquiry, from ruling party MP Chris Gololo, came after a briefing by the electricity utility - to a joint meeting of Parliament's energy and public enterprises portfolio committees - on its future spending plans.
Gololo said his question had to do with wind power.
"My question is based on the wind power, in that why can't we, for instance, establish a wind farm near the Table Mountain?[sic]
"Because the reason is if you drive along that area, if you look at those trees, actually they are all standing like this [bent over].
"To me, it tells me that there's a lot of wind there, which [sic] we can put a lot of these wind turbines. Even if you are travelling in a car, you will see that the car is shaking, like it's going to be blown off.
"Why can't we put those wind turbines along the mountain in order for us to generate more megawatts? Your comment please, thank you."
Responding, Eskom operations and planning division MD Kannan Lakmeeharam said the choice of site was not Eskom's to make.
"The choice of where you build is informed by regulatory requirements and environmental impact assessments... if the City of Cape Town is happy... to build on Table Mountain, that is their choice," he told Gololo.
