The Proposed Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant Near Olifantshoek, Northern Cape Province
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DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 28 October 2020 THE PROPOSED KGALALELO SOLAR POWER PLANT NEAR OLIFANTSHOEK, NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE 1 PROJECT DETAIL DEFF Reference No. : 14/12/16/3/3/2/1150 Project Title : Proposed Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant near Olifantshoek, Northern Cape Province Authors : Ms. Carli Steenkamp Ms. Christia van Dyk Client : Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd. Report Status : Draft Environmental Impact Report Submission date : 28 October 2020 When used as a reference this report should be cited as: Environamics (2020) Draft EIR: Proposed Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant near Olifantshoek, Northern Cape Province. COPYRIGHT RESERVED This technical report has been produced for Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd. The intellectual property contained in this report remains vested in Environamics and Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd. No part of the report may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from Environamics or Kgalalelo Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd. 1 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PROJECT DETAIL ............................................................................................................................. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................. 5 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. 7 PLATES ........................................................................................................................................... 8 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................. 9 GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................................................ 10 CONTEXT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................... 12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 13 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 16 1.1 LEGAL MANDATE AND PURPOSE OF THE REPORT .............................................................. 16 1.2 DETAILS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PRACTITIONER (EAP) ............................. 18 1.3 DETAILS OF SPECIALISTS ...................................................................................................... 19 1.4 STATUS OF THE EIA PROCESS .............................................................................................. 22 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT ............................................................................................... 23 2 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 27 2.1 THE LOCATION OF THE ACTIVITY AND PROPERTY DESCRIPTION ........................................ 27 2.2 ACTIVITY DESRIPTION .......................................................................................................... 29 2.3 PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................................ 30 2.4 LAYOUT DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 31 2.5 SERVICES PROVISION ........................................................................................................... 33 3 LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY CONTEXT ...................................................................................... 37 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT ......................................................................................................... 39 3.3 POLICY CONTEXT ................................................................................................................. 44 3.4 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 56 4 THE NEED AND DESIRABILITY ................................................................................................ 57 4.1 THE NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTIVITY ............................................................................ 57 4.2 THE DESIRABILITY OF THE PROPOSED ACTIVITY .................................................................. 57 3 5 DESCRIPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES .......................................................................... 60 5.1 CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES .................................................................................... 60 5.2 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS ........................................................................................ 67 5.3 THE ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTES ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE ... 76 5.4 SITE SELECTION MATRIX ...................................................................................................... 88 5.5 CONCLUDING STATEMENT ON ALTERNATIVES ................................................................... 92 6 DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPACTS AND RISKS ........................................................................... 93 6.1 SCOPING METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 94 6.2 KEY ISSUES IDENTIFIED ...................................................................................................... 111 6.3 ASPECTS TO BE ASSESSED .................................................................................................. 112 6.4 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS FROM SPECIALIST STUDIES .................................... 114 6.5 METHOD OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT................................................................... 120 7 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT ................................................................................... 126 7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 126 7.2 GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF EVALUATION ................................................................................ 127 7.3 TEMPORAL BOUNDARY OF EVALUATION .......................................................................... 128 7.4 OTHER PROJECTS IN THE AREA .......................................................................................... 128 7.5 SPECIALIST INFORMATION ON CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ..................................................... 129 7.6 IMPACT ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................ 134 7.7 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 138 8 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .............................................................................. 139 8.1 SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS AND ASSESSMENT RESULTS ............................................... 139 8.2 RECOMMENDATION OF EAP ............................................................................................. 140 9 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 142 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Listed activities ................................................................................................................... 16 Table 1.2: Details of specialists ........................................................................................................... 20 Table 1.3: Project schedule ................................................................................................................. 22 Table 1.4: Structure of the report ....................................................................................................... 23 Table 2.1: General site information .................................................................................................... 28 Table 2.2: Listed activities ................................................................................................................... 29 Table 2.3: Technical details for the proposed facility ......................................................................... 31 Table 2.4: Coordinates ........................................................................................................................ 32 Table 3.1: Legislative context for the construction of photovoltaic solar plants ................................ 39 Table 3.2: Policy context for the construction of photovoltaic solar plants ....................................... 44 Table 5.1: Issues raised by consultation bodies .................................................................................. 73 Table 5.2: Protected tree species frequency, density/ha & number of specimens per VU ................ 79 Table 5.3: Trip generation ................................................................................................................... 88 Table 5.4: Site selection matrix ..........................................................................................................