Cape Town won't rely solely on Eskom.
Category Cape Town News
The current energy crisis in South Africa is wreaking havoc for the South African economy. Regardless of your industry or size of your business, losing 2.5 hours of productivity every few days is enough to sink a company.
According to Ian Neilson, The City of Cape Town’s executive deputy mayor, load shedding is costing companies in the city as much as R1 billion a month.
Neilson, says that the city wants to generate its own electricity, alleviating the dependence on the ailing electricity provider Eskom.
“A national grid powered by large power stations cannot be our sole source of energy, or even of electricity,” Neilson told Business Day.
Together with the Western Cape government, the city is already driving efforts to bring natural gas supply into the province.
"We reiterate our previously stated interest in entering into a power purchase agreement with a private company that will construct a gas-fired power station within the city to provide Cape Town with a power supply which is not dependent on Eskom’s monopoly and which will provide an anchor for the investment required to bring a gas supply into our city. This would directly support the growth of larger-scale renewable energy resources in Cape Town and the Western Cape.
Andries Louw of Annenberg Property Group believes that this initiative will boost investor confidence and lead to an increased demand for factories, warehouses and offices in the region.
Author: David Bowman
