The City of Cape Town is gearing up to put 500MW on its grid to cover the failing national power utility Eskom and stop load shedding., the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said that there is no way for Eskom to get out of its capacity mess, and as a result, the city must resolve the problems itself.
The procurement of 500MW forms the final part of the Cape Town’s four-stage plan to reduce reliance on Eskom and become more energy independent.The 500MW isn’t designed to cut ties with Eskom entirely, but instead makes up for the shortfall that leads to load shedding when Eskom asks cities across the country to cut power. Power from the new project would be immediately dispatchable to households across the city.
Through the power heroes program, households that save power to free up additional capacity during peak times are offered cash incentives.