Johannesburg has secured bids from private producers to provide 92MW of electricity to help shield it from nationwide electricity shortages.
The city’s electricity utility, City Power, last year issued a request for short-term power purchase agreements. South Africa experiences electricity rationing on a regular basis as state-owned Eskom struggles to meet demand.
The selected bids from companies using waste-to-energy, gas-to-power and solar generation technology provide cheaper electricity than using Eskom, City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava said on Thursday in a statement. Johannesburg plans to add 500MW of capacity by 2030. One megawatt is enough to supply around 650 households, Eskom says on its website.
Read: Joburg’s new plan to curb load shedding
Cape Town, the second largest city in the country, also called for supply last year from independent producers and has issued a tender to build its first grid-connected solar plant.
Johannesburg plans to install rooftop solar at over 700 sites and increase the number of solar water heating systems. — (c) 2023 Bloomberg LP
