Johannesburg kicked off its Independent Power Producer (IPP) program on Wednesday to supplement the city’s power supply.
- Johannesburg’s Independent Power Producers program kicked off on Wednesday.
- The City of Johannesburg published its request for proposals for alternative energy sources.
- Mayor Mpho Phalatse said she was hopeful that adding independent power producers to the grid would end blackouts in the city.
Johannesburg has started its Independent Power Producer (IPP) programme.
The program includes contracts with IPP, especially those with alternative energy sources, to supplement the city’s power supply, 90% of which comes from embattled electric power company Eskom.
The City of Johannesburg published its request for proposal (RFP) for alternative energy sources on Wednesday.
Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse said she believed adding IPP would end rolling blackouts caused by breakdowns at Eskom.
According to a statement from the mayor and MMC Michael Sun Environmental and Infrastructure Services, the metro’s power utility, City Power, has gone on the market to secure excess power from alternative sources through purchase agreements. short-term power up to 36 months.
The announcement came a day after Eskom’s COO Jan Oberholzer warned of prolonged charging outages for the next six to 12 months. On Tuesday, Oberholzer said Eskom could not deliver and burn enough diesel to keep the lights on. The country now faces the daily load shedding of Stage 3.
The city’s RFP follows the two-day Joburg Energy Indaba, which was convened in April.
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Phalatse said the request for proposals for power producers marked a “clear start” on the journey of securing “reliable, sustainable and affordable power.”
“A city whose contribution to the national economy is almost 16%, while accounting for 40% of Gauteng’s economy, cannot be left without power for hours on end.”
Eskom supplies the city with 90% of its electricity and Kelvin Power, an IPP, supplies the rest.
Sun said he was proud of the “hours of diligent work” put in by City Power to create the RFP opportunity.
sun said:
And while I’m proud of the efforts made thus far, this is just the beginning of the… determined effort to protect residents from the socioeconomic poison of rolling blackouts.
According to the statement, the city is also going through a “ministerial determination” approval process to purchase power from the longer-term IPPs.
City Power is looking to diversify its energy sources, including evaluating solar, gas, battery storage, waste-to-energy and the dispatchable gas-to-power option to secure additional capacity.
City Power chief executive Tshifularo Mashava said the traditional business model of getting most of Joburg’s power from Eskom was no longer viable.
“Eskom itself has granted that effect. It is for this reason that we have developed a sustainable energy strategy that includes purchasing energy from various sources,” Mashava said.
According to the statement, this step comes after five months of consultations with critical stakeholders, including the National Treasury, the Departments of Mineral Resources and Energy, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the South African National Energy Regulator and the City. from Cape Town.
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Cape Town is the country’s prototype for increasing Eskom’s supply with IPP. The city has been able to reduce load shedding by adding power from the 180MW Steenbras Dam hydroelectric plant.
It also announced a plan to reward companies for volunteering to reduce their power supply at certain times.
