‘Lights for Alexandra’: Lesufi plans to light up 14 townships before his term ends

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said he’ll light up Alexandra township with solar panels before the end of his term.

Lesufi visited the Solar Gas Turbines farm in Far East Bank, Alexandra on Sunday.

The one Mega Watt solar power plant is expected to supply electricity to nearly 500 households in Alexandra township.

“Our solar farm is ready to lighten up portions of Alex. By the end of this political term, 14 other townships will be off the grid as we add more additional power,” Lesufi said in a statement.

The project, implemented by City Power, was introduced as part of the Gauteng Energy Response Plan.

Upgrades and refurbishments

Lesufi also visited the Johnware Substation, Johannesburg to check on the progress made on refurbishments and upgrades.

According to City Power, the refurbishments were initially set to start in March.

However, the process has already begun with the replacement of old cables and installation of new valves. The substation’s engine is also due to be replaced.

“Gauteng, we are proud from next month, we are bringing back this power station to life to deliver the much needed electricity to the people of Gauteng,” Lesufi said.

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Load shedding

Meanwhile, Eskom announced it would implement Stage 2 load shedding on Sunday – effective from 4pm until 5am on Monday.

The power utility said it would once again implement Stage 2 at the same time on Monday until 5 am on Tuesday.

“This alternating pattern of suspending load shedding from 5am until 4pm and Stage 2 load shedding from 4pm until 5am will be repeated daily until further notice,” Eskom said in a statement.

Meanwhile, unplanned outages have further reduced to 13 350MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is at 8 476MW.

Eskom’s evening peak on Sunday evening is 24 979.

“While the available generation capacity has been sustained, the need to replenish the emergency reserves for the upcoming week necessitates an increase in the stage of loadshedding.”

Eskom said it would continue to monitor the power system and communicate any further changes to the schedule if required.

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