The City of Cape Town is appealing to private and public sector financiers to help improve its plans of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This includes submitting proposals for low cost finance of renewable energy projects that will be owned and operated by the city, as News24 reports.
According to Mayco member for finance, deputy mayor, Ian Neilson, ‘The programme will be made up of a number of projects ranging in size from less than 1MW to 100MW per project and all projects will be located on city-owned land and buildings, typically within the city distribution grid.”
Neilson further stated that they hope to have a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) plant built and operated by the city by approximately 2022/23. This is in addition to the plan to procure some of its energy from independent power producers in the future.
As BusinessTech reports, the city’s mayoral committee member for energy and climate change Phindile Maxiti says that: “The city has always believed that local governments have the constitutional power and obligation to procure renewable energy and this is necessary to move away from the sole reliance on Eskom for energy supply.”
“A stable and cleaner energy supply will also give the economies of Cape Town and other municipalities in the country a boost towards sustained recovery following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy,” Maxiti adds.
Also read: Proudly South African banner gently rests on iconic Table Mountain
Proudly South African banner gently rests on iconic Table Mountain
Picture: Unsplash