The Western Cape government aims to install solar panel systems at 100 schools across the province. This as part of its energy resilience plan amid rolling Eskom blackouts. In its weekly online media conference, these and plans from the City of Cape Town, were outlined.
The solar panels with batteries and an inverter system can dramatically improve schooling during load shedding. In the process of identifying 100 schools, the Western Cape government wants to bring more partners on board in order to reach more schools.
Western Cape Special Energy Advisor, Alwie Lester says should private donors get involved the number of schools to benefit could increase.
“The focus is very much at looking at how do we through the energy crisis help capacitate the learners to get through the school system at this point, that is one of the projects through the energy generation program. The second one is in the private sector and it’s the one that we have been very excited about and it’s us really about us wanting to identify about four to five towns in the province,” says Lester.
The City of Cape Town is aggressively chasing its goal of ridding itself of load shedding for good, in the near future. In the last year, its changed policy to allow private homes and businesses to generate and sell power to the city.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says one of the interventions aimed at addressing load shedding will kick start next week.
“We are going to release to the public a major tender for 500 megawatts of dispatch-able power. Dispatch-able simply means it’s available when you need it. With flip of the switch, whenever you need that power for you to use it and that is very important because it means you can get when you need to use it on that crucial evening peak or morning peak when the sun is not shining and you can use it overnight or whenever you need it,” Hill-Lewis explains.
Western Cape government aims to install solar panel systems at 100 schools:
The City is also in detailed discussions with Eskom to take over all its supply areas in the city. Through its current Steenbras Dam generation programme it can shield residents that are supplied of electricity directly by the City from up to two stages of load shedding.
City of Cape Town on a mission to end loadshedding:
