Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City of Cape Town is on track with plans to protect residents from the first four stages of Eskom’s loadshedding within three years.
Also read: Electricity minister deems predicting end of loadshedding “highly irresponsible”
The three-phase procurement for loadshedding protection has reached several important milestones this month. The largest procurement – a 500MW tender to buy power on the open market – is on track to open before the end of March.
“I am encouraged by the progress made on Cape Town’s three-phase procurement for loadshedding protection. Ending loadshedding is vital for economic growth, investor confidence, and ultimately to help people to work and out of poverty. We are on track to offer protection from the first four stages of Eskom’s loadshedding within the next three years,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
“Bidders in Phase 1 of the procurement – for 200MW of renewable energy – will this month receive Cost Estimate Letters for connecting to Cape Town’s grid. This will help bidders formulate their tariffs for selling power to the City. This follows the completion of a comprehensive grid integration study by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on when and where these IPPs will feed power into Cape Town’s grid.
The second of the three-phase procurement for loadshedding protection takes the form of the Power Heroes programme, an initiative to pay residents incentives for voluntary energy savings, which will entail automated remote switching off of power-intensive devices at peak times. The contract for this programme is in the final stages of negotiations with preferred bidders and could be awarded within April if all goes to plan,’ said the Mayor.
Finally, the third phase of procurement – a 500MW Dispatchable Energy tender – is on track to open on 29 March 2023.
“The tender will focus on renewable energy and all-important dispatchable technologies, such as battery storage and gas-to-power. These power sources need to generate power for a significant portion of the day to support our loadshedding protection efforts.
“Importantly, these dispatchable supply sources need not be located in a City-supply area. We are expecting enough progress on this three-Phase procurement – and our other deliverables – to provide at least four stages of load-shedding protection within three years,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Cape Town is also the first city in the country to offer households and businesses cash for their excess rooftop solar power. The City is set to start paying businesses cash for power before June, and residents will be able to start selling power for cash later this year. February 2023 was the best month on record for new Solar PV installations in Cape Town, spurred on by new incentives.
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