Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has urged a swift shift towards renewable energy to address the province’s ageing infrastructure and reduce reliance on Eskom.

Despite recent improvements in energy availability, speaking at a Western Cape Energy Council meeting this week, Winde stressed the need for transparency in load reduction practices to protect vulnerable communities.

“Even though there is currently no load shedding, we must not become complacent. Our existing energy network is ageing and we need to invest in a different approach to our energy mix for the future. The Energy Council will continue coordinating all measures outlined in the Western Cape energy resilience programme, particularly in speeding up our transition from coal-based power to renewable energy and reducing the province’s reliance on Eskom. We must not stop putting up those solar panels and wind turbines.”

Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy, Samantha Graham-Maré, attended the meeting.

The council emphasised the need for gas power to play a greater role in the Western Cape’s energy transition and expressed the local government’s readiness to support the development of gas-to-power and accelerate green hydrogen initiatives through partnerships with the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.

Ramokgopa expressed his appreciation of the Energy Council’s work since its establishment two years ago and offered his department’s support, emphasising his commitment to collaborating with the Western Cape government to address the ongoing energy crisis.

He highlighted a significant improvement in the energy availability factor (EAF), which rose to 63.3% between April 1 and August 1 this year – an eight percentage point increase compared to the same period last year. He said the weekly EAF also rose from 57% at the start of the financial year to 70.67% in late July 2024 with six power stations achieving an EAF above 70%.

Despite these improvements, the minister acknowledged ongoing challenges with municipal and Eskom distribution infrastructure, which have occasionally required load reduction.

Winde said: “Just like NERSA has put transparent regulations for load shedding in place, which allow customers to plan, we must do the same for load reduction. Whether it is load shedding or load reduction, the result is still the same: our residents are without electricity. I am concerned that load reduction could have a particularly devastating impact on our poorer residents where load reduction seems to be more prevalent”.