The City of Cape Town welcomes the decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to drop the requirement of power purchase agreements for small-scale embedded generation projects below 100MW, according to Engineering News. Any streamlining and removal of red tape in the current energy regime that will enable the diversification of the energy mix is good news, especially for Cape Town’s plans to end load-shedding over time.
‘The streamlining of Nersa-processes and the removal of counter-productive red tape bodes well for the investment that is required in this sector. We are starting to move in the right direction and this Nersa-move will go a long way to help with the diversification of energy mix, which will enhance energy security and give us an opportunity to move to a mix of cleaner resources going forward. This also is a boost for the City’s plans of enhancing and enabling independent power production, own build generation and ending Eskom’s load-shedding in Cape Town over time.
‘In the new financial year, some R22,6 million has been aside to get the wheels in motion for independent generation and procurement while R15 million has been allocated to pay for energy generated by small-scale embedded generators through the feed in tariff of 75,51 c/kWh (excluding VAT) and the 25c/kWh incentive offered for small-scale embedded generators. Some R50 million has also been added to the 2022/23 capital budget to progress the development of the Atlantis Photovoltaic plant,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
