Tshwane planning its own capacity independent of Eskom
THE City of Tshwane is set to drive a process of independently generating electricity to mitigate the negative effects of load shedding and stimulate economic growth.
Mayor Cilliers Brink said this yesterday ahead of the upcoming energy summit to be hosted by the Tshwane Economic Development Agency (Teda) and the municipality on June 19-20 at SunBet Arena in Menlyn.
“Our goal as the City is to, by 2026, get 1 000 megawatts of the odd 2 600 that we use as the City, independent of Eskom.
“It is essential that we build capacity independent of the national government energy utility even though we had a couple of days of continuous no-load shedding,” he said.
Brink suggested that Eskom's capacity to keep the lights on might be short-lived.
“The key question is: what happens after the election? Was it (electricity) present with burning a great deal of diesel?
“Even if the private sector is deploying resources to take off the load from Eskom, which is indeed happening, we need energy for growth,” he said.
He also cautioned against having the same energy supply.
“The fact that we have a load shedding and energy crisis in this country puts a cap of 2% of GDP of our potential as a country. We need to lift that.
“We need to deploy as much energy as possible that will also make energy so affordable. So, the City of Tshwane is determined to do exactly that,” Brink said.
The municipal parastatal, Teda, this week hosted a pre-launch event for the energy summit, highlighting Tshwane's commitment to becoming a net-zero carbon and climate-resilient city by 2050.
The inaugural Tshwane Energy Summit 2024 is expected to strike up conversations aimed at promoting energy efficiency and a transition to renewable energy.
Senior manager for marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement at Teda, Paseka Rakosa said the summit represents a critical milestone in Tshwane's pursuit of a unified strategy on renewable energy.
“By bringing together key stakeholders from across sectors, the event is poised to chart a course towards a more resilient and sustainable energy future for our city," he said.
The two-day summit will be attended by energy industry leaders, policymakers, and business stakeholders, among other participants.
Rakosa said: “We are looking forward to bringing together likeminded private and public stakeholders, not only to talk about the urgency of our collective energy challenges but to detail a roadmap as to how these problems can be addressed together, with the end goal being to strike up meaningful connections that foster improved collaboration and cohesion and drive change.”