The City of Cape Town has announced plans to build its first grid-connected solar plant next year.
The City says it’s but only one of its many interventions to end loadshedding over time.
A tender has been issued the tender for engineering, procurement, and construction of its planned 7MW Atlantis solar photovoltaic plant. The facility will be connected directly to the City’s electrical network, feeding additional power into the local grid.
The power plant would start generating electricity in 2024 and be in operation for 20 years, with a foreseen annual output of 14,7GWh.
The City currently purchases most of its electricity from Eskom and says high Eskom price escalations, expected in the future, may not be financially sustainable for the City and its residents.
It is expected that the Atlantis solar plant will enhance the City’s financial sustainability as the cost of generating the electricity would be lower than the bulk procurement from Eskom. Mayoral Committee Member for the City’s Directorate of Energy, Beverley van Reenen, says reducing the dependency on Eskom also means the City can develop and explore more climate-friendly power sources than Eskom’s coal-fired power stations.
Van Reenen says strides have also been made to enable independent power production and small-scale embedded generation. In this financial year, R15 million has been allocated to pay for energy generated by small-scale embedded generators through the feed-in tariff of 75,51 c/kWh (excluding VAT) and the 25c/kWh incentive offered for small-scale embedded generators.
She says this development holds the potential to enhance the attractiveness of Atlantis as an investment hub and it is expected to stimulate the green and broader local economy. This holds the potential to increase investment and thus enable job creation, boosting the local and Cape Town economy.
The investment in the construction of the Atlantis plant is expected to result in an R47,2 million gross domestic product increase. It is also expected that this development will enhance the safety of the surrounding communities, as well as stimulate the surrounding property market.
Read more here.
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The City of Cape Town plans to build its first grid-connected solar plant next year as one of its interventions to end load-shedding over time.
The City has issued the tender for construction of its planned 7MW Atlantis solar photovoltaic (PV). https://t.co/QWbspvWiwt pic.twitter.com/06sMDqSOwM
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) September 21, 2022
