



Cape Town is ready to start creating its own power supply grid.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the go-ahead for municipalities with balanced books to get their power from Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

The City of Cape Town has long fought a court battle with the national government and the energy regulator to avoid load shedding by sourcing its own electricity.

Improving access to affordable electricity is a key deliverable that we are investigating… Whatever they [IPPs] might have available, we want to know that so that we can become self-sufficient so that we don't rely on Eskom so much and get rid of this load shedding nightmare. Dan Plato, Mayor - Cape Town

The City of Cape Town is conducting a study into overcoming energy poverty through ventures such as solar home systems, free basic electricity and improved access to gas.

Kieno Kammies interviewed Kadri Nassiep, Executive Director of Energy at the City of Cape Town.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

There are loads of cautious optimism… A lot of work has been done already… Kadri Nassiep, Executive Director of Energy and Climate Change - City of Cape Town

It’s OK to purchase solar panels [for your home] … and then to feed back the surplus energy into the grid and have your bill reduced… The idea is to introduce financing options to allow homeowners to purchase these products over a much longer period… the purchase is linked to the property. If you sell, the debt remains with the house. The idea is to buy as much rooftop generation as you can afford and you’ll feed the surplus back into the City’s network… Kadri Nassiep, Executive Director of Energy and Climate Change - City of Cape Town

For more detail, listen to the interview in the audio below.