Green light flickers for Tshwane’s leap toward energy security

Tshwane council has approved the second Rooiwal report which seeks to ensure the Capital City is not as dependent on Eskom for power supply.

On January 25, council gave the thumbs-up for the metro to proceed with the 40-year lease of Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations, anticipated to bring about 1000 MW of alternative energy to the metro within three years.

For 30 days from September 18, 2023, Tshwane had opened up public participation for residents to comment on the R200-million Rooiwal and R160-million Pretoria West projects.

In the report, Tshwane property department had noted there were three objections to the proposed lease among the more than 30 submissions made.

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said robust public engagements with stakeholders had yielded overwhelmingly positive responses.

“This indicates that our residents understand that we need to take drastic action to end load-shedding for an energy-secure future.

“The council approval is one of the six steps to get the two power stations running again.

“It marks a major milestone to move Tshwane closer to energy independence and stabilising electricity supply to communities.”

Brink said as part of the metro’s master energy plan, over the next three years about 1 000 MW of alternative energy would have to be secured.

“This has occasioned the need for Tshwane to engage with independent power producers and open up opportunities for alternative energy production. So far, we are pleased with the transparent manner in which the leasing process is unfolding.”

He said given the scale of the transaction, city manager Johann Mettler would appoint an advisory team to ensure maximum effectiveness for the transaction.

“Every time a higher stage of load-shedding hits us, it destroys our infrastructure, leads to prolonged outages and frustration, and creates opportunities for cable theft.

“Pretoria West power station had the potential to be repurposed to enable a more renewable form of energy production that will support the revitalisation of the Pretoria West industrial hub in the Pretoria West precinct.

“The metro aims to operate the stations via a third party by means of a 40-year lease, with exploration for preferable alternative energy sources such as solar power or gas.”

In September 2023, Brink said the stations were licensed to generate power and that Tshwane would begin operating them in a few years’ time.

“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.

“The importance of being energy-secure has been a concern for 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.”

He said load-shedding caused excessive wear and tear to infrastructure, depleted the maintenance budget and created proactive opportunities for criminals to attack and strip electricity installations.

“Tshwane does not currently have the technical or financial capacity to leverage the potential of these assets to enhance its energy security. We have deemed it necessary to create a mechanism to enable the private sector to present solutions through a request for proposals.

Brink stressed that the power stations have not been fully operational for over eight years and upgrading them to become functional would require major investment.

READ MORE: Here’s the updated Tshwane load-shedding schedule

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