Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. Picture Neil McCartney
The City of Tshwane said it is prepared to fight Eskom if the embattled power utility does not grant it permission to procure electricity from independent power producers (IPPs).
On Monday, the city announced it hopes to procure generation capacity of at least 1 000 megawatts (MW) in the next three years from the private sector to make it less dependent on Eskom for its total requirement of about 2 600MW.
“That would have a significant impact on our energy independence from Eskom,” said mayor Cilliers Brink.
Asked how the City of Tshwane will deal with Eskom’s restrictive approach to entities utilising their own generation to offset load shedding, Brink said the city will fight it.
“We will fight Eskom and Nersa,” he said.
Brink said the importance of being energy secure has been a concern for the City of Tshwane for close to a decade.
“Every day, rolling blackouts make us poorer, degrade our infrastructure and chip away at the funding model of local government, which has thus far depended on the electricity distribution business.
ALSO READ: City Power introduces independent power producers as it battles load shedding
Brink added the excessive wear and tear caused by load shedding damages infrastructure, depletes repairs and maintenance budgets, and creates “proactive opportunities for criminals to attack and strip our electricity installations.”
“The City of Tshwane is paying the price today for the lack of investment in infrastructure in the first decade of the municipality’s existence, and this has resulted in poor economic growth and stunted development,” said Brink.
He said the city will convene an energy indaba by November to communicate the approved policy suite, as a forerunner to the announcement of a request for proposals for sustainable and alternative energy solutions to support the city’s transition to a sustainable and secure energy future.
ALSO READ: The lights are still on: Eskom suspends load shedding for a short while
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