Cape Town is the first city in the country to offer households and businesses cash for power from their solar PV systems, with the feed-in tariff set to increase by 10.15% for 2023/24, plus a 25c per kWh incentive.
In another interesting development, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced that the City will design, build, and operate a R1.2 billion ($66 million) solar PV plant with battery storage capable of providing up to a full stage of load-shedding protection.
Cape Town’s innovative and diverse energy initiatives have gained global recognition, including a recent visit by the World Bank’s Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa to the Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme.
The Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme is a high-tech plant engineered to insulate Cape Town against the repercussions of load shedding. It is a significant energy project and one of Cape Town’s most creative and innovative initiatives.
This electricity rationing is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The City of Cape Town is working to reduce the impact of electricity rationing in the city in the near future, and ultimately, to eliminate it all together. The City is busy implementing several projects to achieve this.
The objective of Cape Town’s infrastructure investment effort is to create the ‘City of Hope.’ The city is setting out on a R120 billion ten-year infrastructure portfolio journey, encompassing projects designed to escalate resilience and ensure energy and water security.