According to mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town is set to be the first South African city free from load shedding.
Cape Town is issuing tenders to procure as much as 300 WM of renewable energy and Hill-Lewis revealed that they look to rely on the independent power producers (IPPs) to eliminate their reliance on Eskom.
“We will be considering proposals from IPPs for projects that will allow us to access an affordable and reliable electricity supply. We are particularly eager for proposals from IPPs that are able to help us eliminate our reliance on Eskom during peak times of use,” said the Solar Power Africa conference.
The city will be open to the proposals generation projects, generation plus storage projects, and storage projects only.
Hill explained that the city uses 2000 WM of power in just a day, and if they can secure more power from independent producers, the less they will rely on Eskom.
While the city would enjoy the benefit of being free from load shedding, the price of renewable energy is less than the cost of electricity of Eskom.
“There are big benefits, but it does not mean eliminating Eskom altogether,” he added.
Source – BUSINESSTECH, News24
