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 the engineering, procurement and construction of a 7 MW solar photovoltaic facility in Atlantis.
The facility will be connected directly to the city’s electrical network.
The city believes that the construction of similar plants across the metro could follow at a later stage.
“The power plant would start generating electricity in 2024 and be in operation for 20 years, with a foreseen annual output of 14.7 GWh,” says Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
“The city currently purchases most of its electricity from Eskom. [The] high Eskom price escalations expected in 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.”
Hill-Lewis says reducing dependence on Eskom also means that the city can develop and explore more climate-friendly power sources than Eskom’s coal-fired power stations.
“Apart from the city’s own build generation, strides have also been made to enable independent power production and small-scale embedded generation,” he adds.
The investment in the construction of the Atlantis plant is expected to result in a R47.2-million gross domestic product increase.