Cape Town is spearheading efforts to combat the nation’s energy shortages through electricity wheeling, with Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announcing that 15 commercial electricity suppliers will soon begin wheeling through the City’s grid.
This development will follow the City Council’s approval, which is expected later this month. The mayoral committee recently authorised third parties to enter the electricity market and use Cape Town’s robust grid infrastructure.
The City is currently piloting wheeling, with plans to fully implement the practice throughout Cape Town by the end of this year.
Also read: The Western Cape Government has plans for a loadshedding-free province
‘Wheeling allows people to buy electricity from each other using existing grid infrastructure. The future is now, as Cape Town gears up for the first electron to be wheeled between our pilot project participants this July,’ explained Mayor Hill-Lewis.
He added that, following the development of the billing engine and the completion of wheeling agreements, this is the business end of the pilot stage.
‘Cape Town’s electricity landscape is rapidly liberalising off the back of our end load-shedding plans, with 700 MW of independent power under procurement, innovative Cash for Power and Power Heroes programmes, and now the sale of electricity wheeled between market participants,’ he said.
The City invited applications to participate in the wheeling pilot last year, and fifteen participants (representing 25 generators and 40 customers) have now been confirmed and are about to begin wheeling.
‘The City is getting on top of the complexity of wheeling, which requires new skills, regulatory and policy changes, billing development and bilateral agreements. Our programme will allow electricity to be wheeled over both the municipal and Eskom distribution networks in Cape Town,’ said Councillor Beverley van Reenen, mayoral committee member for energy.
Councillor van Reenen explained that sales will be governed by bilateral power purchase agreements in a market environment rather than a regulated environment because the price of the energy is set between the parties rather than by the city, Eskom or the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
Cape Town also has the necessary legal framework in place for wheeling, with the City’s Electricity Supply By-Law allowing for retail electricity wheeling through the network. Wheeling will take place at voltages of 11 kV and higher.
The 15 participants in the wheeling pilot who submitted valid applications to generate and sell power are:
- Amazon Data Service South Africa (Pty) Ltd
- Brinmar Private Energy Trading South Africa
- Distributed Power Africa (Pty) Ltd
- Energy Exchange of Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd
- Energy Partners Utilities (RF) (Pty) Ltd
- EnerJ Carbon Management
- Enpower Trading (Pty) Ltd
- Floating Solar (Pty) Ltd
- Make a Difference Ventures GP LLC.
- NEURA Trading (Pty) Ltd
- Phofu Solar Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd
- POWERX Proprietary Limited
- Redefine Properties Limited
- Solar Africa Energy (Pty) Ltd
- Swish Property Seven (Pty) Ltd
Cape {town} Etc discount: Escape the loadshedding blues with a pizza or pasta and a glass of wine at Obz Cafe for R159 (Valued at R330). Get it here.
Also read:
Picture: Rafael Quaty / Pexels