Cape Town might soon become the first load shedding free city in the country in the next few years.
In an announcement made this morning (Wednesday 16 February), Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the City is opening its first round of procurement of power from independent power producers.
Hill-Lewis announced at the Solar Power Africa 2022 conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
He says they will be procuring up to 300 megawatts of renewable energy, much of which will be generated by solar PV power.
According to the mayor, the tender document for the procurement is available on the City’s website from today.
He says they will consider proposals from all IPP’s for projects that will allow the city access to affordable and reliable electricity supply.
“I feel excited, I think it’s a really important step for Cape Town’s energy journey towards being hopefully first load shedding free in South Africa over time. We know it will require a lot of work. Today is the first step in that procurement,” says Hill-Lewis.
He says the aim is not to eliminate Eskom.
“The more we can reduce our reliance on Eskom, not eliminate it, and do away with load shedding over time the better.”
He says this project is beneficial to consumers.
“The price of the renewable projects is a fraction of the cost of Eskom power. So, you can start to pass on that saving to consumers.”
Hill-Lewis says they would like to see all the projects constructed and connected in the next 40 to 50 months.
