The Western Cape Government says that hydro-energy to both generate electricity and for use in long-term energy storage is part of its
. The capabilities of the Steenbras Dam Hydro Pump featured prominently at its weekly online update on the energy crises.The dam sits atop a mountain which allows water to flow down through the hydro-electric turbines that in turn generate electricity. Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis says it also serves as a massive battery that is capable of shielding Cape Town from up to two stages of loadshedding. He says that they are exploring ways of expanding its potential.
“The exciting future of this is to see how we can expand this lower dam, there’s some very cool work happening around that now. Because really the limiting factor here…the thing that determines the size of your battery is the size of the lower dam. Once the lower dam is full, you can’t pump anymore,” Hill-Lewis, explains.