The first electrons of clean, green energy have been wheeled over the City of Cape Town’s grid by Growthpoint Properties and electricity trader Etana Energy.
Wheeling, where electricity is bought and sold between private parties, uses the grid to transport power from its generation point to end users that can be far away. It creates access to renewable energy and contributes to resolving the country’s energy crisis.
As part of the city’s wheeling pilot project, solar energy generated at the Constantia Village shopping centre is being exported into Cape Town’s electricity grid for use at Growthpoint’s 36 Hans Strijdom office building at the Foreshore, the home of Investec and Ninety One.
This wheeling agreement between the city and Growthpoint was signed at the end of August and, in a milestone for renewable energy in Cape Town, solar power from Constantia Village was successfully injected into the city’s energy grid for the first time last Sunday.
The city’s six-month pilot project includes 15 wheeling participants representing 25 generators and 40 customers. The pilot will lay the groundwork for future wheeling in Cape Town and will allow businesses to use energy from rooftop solar panels across multiple locations, encouraging them to optimise solar capacity instead of limiting it to individual building use.
“Overall, Cape Town is planning to add up to 1GW of independent power to end load shedding in the city over time. The exact mix may vary, but we expect wheeling to contribute up to 350MW to the grid in time,” said mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
‘Wheeling’: A promising solution to South Africa’s energy woes
Cape Town’s “end load shedding” plans include wheeling electricity, partnering with independent power producers, paying households and businesses cash for power generated by solar PV, a “Power Heroes” incentive scheme for households to reduce energy demand, solar PV farms, and further optimisation of the Steenbras hydropower plant. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media
