Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis visited the solar plant in Atlantis.
Image: Henk Kruger/Independent Newspapers
The City of Cape Town said it's making progress with its R200 million solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Atlantis.
This is after installing around 2,400 solar panels of the total planned 12,850 to power the local grid by the end of this year.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis visited the first municipal own-built solar plant in South Africa on Thursday. He was accompanied by the mayoral committee for energy, Xanthea Limberg.
“It’s awe-inspiring to see thousands of panels springing up at this first City-owned solar plant in South Africa, which is also benefiting the local economy and community here in Atlantis. This plant can potentially scale up to 10MW fed directly into our local grid, and we’ll connect the initial 7MW capacity to a nearby main substation by the end of the year,” he said.
“This project is part of the broader change sweeping across our city, as we source alternative energy to ultimately meet 35% of total demand by 2030; as we scale-up the energy efficiency initiatives already saving ratepayers R350 million per year; as we make it easier for households to go solar and sell us the excess to get cash for power; as we open our grid to energy traders this year; and as we invest R5 billion on grid upgrades over three years to support this decentralised energy future,” Hill-Lewis said.
He said the City has various renewable energy and efficiency initiatives under way, including:
- Plans for a major 60MW solar plant at Paardevlei, enough protection for one full stage of Eskom load-shedding
- Optimising municipal buildings for maximum energy efficiency, already saving R350 m per year
- Renewable energy to power major Wastewater works and water treatment plants
- Waste-to-energy initiatives turning landfill gas to power, also earning carbon credits
- Efficient LED street light installations across the network
- Further upgrades to the City’s Steenbras hydro-plant, already providing up to two stages of load-shedding protection
- Procuring embedded generation power on the open market
- Opening Cape Town’s grid for energy traders to ‘wheel’ power
Limberg said the Atlantis site will operate as a hybrid plant alongside the City’s first utility-scale battery storage operation, totalling 8MW, part of broader plans to incorporate energy storage within the City’s network.
“The Atlantis project also holds significant benefits for the local economy and job creation, increasing green jobs across various skill levels and igniting the investment in the renewable energy sector, and the green economy sector as a whole,” she said.
Limberg thanked the residents and broader community of Atlantis, who are playing an integral role in the delivery of goods and services, through local labour opportunities and support, which kept the project on track for completion later this year.
“This project will further contribute to achieving the City’s goal of net-zero carbon municipal buildings by 2030. The renewable energy certificates generated from this solar project will meaningfully offset carbon emissions associated with the City’s operations,” Limberg added.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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