Johannesburg – The Mayor of Johannesburg Dr. Mpho Phalatse on Wednesday said, together with City Power, they were a step closer to ending load-shedding.
“The Johannesburg Multi-Party Government and City Power are proud to announce that the power utility has gone out to the market to secure excess energy from alternative energy sources through Short Term Power Purchase Agreements of up to 36 months,” said Mayor Dr. Phalatse on Wednesday.
“This positive step towards mitigating and eventually ending rolling blackouts follows commitments made at the two-day Joburg Energy Indaba convened in April 2022.
The Requests for Proposal (RFP) were published this morning, signaling a clear start for Joburg as we embark on the journey of securing reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy that will keep the economy running and the lights on, thus sustaining and improving lives and livelihoods.”
City Power currently purchases 90% of its electricity from Eskom with the balance coming from Kelvin Power Station.
The launch of the first phase of the Independent Power Producer Program is the culmination of many hours of diligent work carried out by City Power,” said MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Service, Michael Sun.
“While I am proud of the efforts thus far, this is only the beginning of the Multi-Party Governments determined effort to shield residents from the socioeconomic poison of rolling blackouts.
Parallel to the Short-Term Power Purchase Agreement, the City said it was undergoing an approval process for Ministerial Determination to procure power on a longer-term basis from IPPs.
By going out into the market now, City Power said it seeks to secure extra capacity from diversified energy sources, including solar, gas, battery storage, waste-to-energy, as well as the dispatchable option of gas-to-power.
City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava said, “the traditional business model of procuring the bulk of our power from Eskom is no longer viable.
“Eskom itself has conceded to that effect. It is for this reason that we have developed a sustainable energy strategy that includes procuring power from diverse sources.”
The development comes a day after Eskom Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer said load-shedding would likely continue for the next few months.
