The City of Cape Town has launched a 990kWp renewable energy project at the Kraaifontein wastewater treatment plant.

The project, which began construction in November 2023, is part of the city’s small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) programme, which aims to reduce reliance on traditional Eskom and municipal power sources by incorporating solar PV systems across municipal facilities.

The city has completed similar SSEG projects at the Goodwood transport management centre (330kWp) and the Gugulethu electricity depot (125kWp). The total cost of the three projects is R20,6 million.

“The project has an expected annual yield of 1,5 GWh. It is estimated that the annual savings on electricity purchases in year one will be around R2,4 million,” says Alderman Limberg, the city’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy.

Cape Town plans to invest more than R4 billion in electricity grid upgrades and maintenance over the next three years as part of its budget for 2024/25 to ensure the grid can cope with a “dynamic, decentralised energy future”. Overall, the city plans to add up to 1 GW of independent power supply to end load shedding over time.