The City of Cape Town is set to make plans to build its very first grid-connected solar plant next year as one of its ways to end load-shedding over time.
The City’s electricity network will be directly connected to the 7MW Atlantis solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The power station would begin producing electricity in 2024 and last for 20 years, producing 14.7GWh of energy annually.
According to the statement, the Atlantis solar project will improve the city’s ability to sustain its finances because producing the electricity would be less expensive than buying it in bulk from Eskom.
By lessening its reliance on Eskom, the City is also free to research and develop more environmentally friendly energy sources than Eskom’s coal-fired power plants.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the mayor of Cape Town, claims that the city has also put aside R15 million to pay small, independent energy producers who have been supplying the system with electricity. In addition to making progress toward enabling independent power generation and small-scale embedded generation, that City has built its own generation.
Additionally, the solar plant could strengthen Atlantis’ status as a financial center and boost the local economy overall.
According to Councillor Beverley van Reenen, who serves on the Mayoral Committee for Energy for the City, the Atlantis plant’s development will improve the country’s gross domestic product by R47,2 million.
The project is anticipated to boost the neighborhood real estate market as well as increase community safety.