{"id":649348,"date":"2026-05-25T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=649348"},"modified":"2026-05-25T07:45:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:45:36","slug":"tiny-village-in-south-africa-where-farmers-are-saying-goodbye-to-eskom-with-2930kw-of-private-clean-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/649348-tiny-village-in-south-africa-where-farmers-are-saying-goodbye-to-eskom-with-2930kw-of-private-clean-energy.html","title":{"rendered":"Tiny village in South Africa where farmers are saying goodbye to Eskom with 2,930kW of private clean energy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A group of farmers in Cookhouse, in the Eastern Cape, built a series of hydroelectric projects with a total generation capacity of 2,930kW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The projects allowed the farmers to eliminate their reliance on Eskom and contributed to Cookhouse’s renewable energy growth, which included a long-running 138MW wind farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located on the Western bank of the Great Fish River, Cookhouse is a small village in the Blue Crane Route Municipality of the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village was an early colonial settlement. It lies between the towns of Cradock and Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) and was part of the British Cape Colonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmer Frans Johannes van Aardt was the first European to settle in the area, establishing the farm Roodewaal<\/em> in 1820.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town is said to have received its name when Frans’ wife Susanna provided soldiers and travellers with food from her cookhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1870s, the town became a major Cape Railway junction after the rail route was extended. The railway crossed the Great Fish River at Cookhouse and eventually reached De Aar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close to the village is a stone cairn commemorating the arrival of Thomas Pringle, often referred to as the father of South African English poetry, who settled in the area in 1820.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pringle would eventually leave the region for the Cape, where he ran several newspapers, before returning to the United Kingdom and becoming a renowned abolitionist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He published African Sketches<\/em> and wrote poetry about South Africa before returning to England, where he eventually died. His remains were returned and laid to rest in the Baviaans Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cairn described how Pringle’s party stopped by Cookhouse and received well-needed rest and restock for two days before continuing on their journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most infamous event that the town is known for is the Slagtersnek Rebellion, where a group of Boers rebelled against the British government that controlled the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident led to an early skirmish between Boer commandos and British forces and led to the hanging of five Afrikaner rebels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afrikaner leaders would later credit the event as a major catalyst for the Great Trek and as fuel for wider resistance against the British. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2,930kW of hydroelectric capacity installed on the Great Fish River<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Turbine installed by farmer on the Great Fish River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cookhouse had a population of nearly 6,000 individuals during the 2011 census, and remained a quiet village in modern times, rarely making headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 7km east of the town is the Cookhouse Wind Farm, which generates approximately 341,000mWh of clean energy every year and is connected to Eskom’s national power grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains one of the country’s largest wind farms, and comprises 66 S88 Suzlon wind turbines situated on a high ridge to the east of the Great Fish River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2025, the South African Irrigation Institute<\/a> (SABI) reported that two farmers in Cookhouse invested in hydroelectric power to build a reliable supply for themselves and their farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers Michael Vermaak and Chris Landman built a combined 1,730kW generation capacity in their hydroelectric projects as of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vermaak, who owned the lion’s share of the hydroelectric plant, planned to add 1,200kW of capacity by the end of that year, bringing the total to 2,930kW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hydropower is widely recognised as one of the cleanest forms of renewable energy,” said SABI in a journal article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With low maintenance and minimal environmental impact, hydropower remains a farmer-friendly, sustainable energy choice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmers were able to use hydropower to keep their pumps, dairy packhouses, and irrigation systems running completely off Eskom’s grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Vermaak had installed three turbines at his facility on the Great Fish River, each with a different capacity \u2014 280kW, 450kW, and 500kW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vermaak utilised the head between the canal and the river below for his generation capacity, while Landman operated a 500kW turbine set nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I&F Engineering aided farmers in installations across the Fish River, including Vermaak and Landman and a farmer further up the river at the town of Cradock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm opted to install turbines from Ossberger, a German manufacturer known for robust and efficient designs. These turbines can run for more than 60 years with minimal maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers on the Great Fish River have benefited from the river’s strong, constant flow, which has increased the capacity factor for installations to around 90% throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is significantly more than solar or wind in South Africa, SABI explained, as seasonal changes can alter generation capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hydroelectric turbines from Ossberger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cookhouse, Eastern Cape<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A group of farmers in the tiny village of Cookhouse, in the Eastern Cape, built a series of hydroelectric projects with a total generation capacity of 2,930kW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":649352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[105432,31396,105429,181,105434,105430,105435,105431,105433,105428,22333],"class_list":["post-649348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-chris-landman","tag-clean-energy","tag-cookhouse","tag-eskom","tag-great-fish-river","tag-hydroelectric-power","tag-if-engineering","tag-michael-vermaak","tag-ossberger","tag-sabi","tag-wind-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649348"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649526,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649348\/revisions\/649526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}