Durban - eThekwini Municipality wants to have an additional 400MW of power on its grid by December 2025 to limit load shedding for residents and businesses.
The Mercury previously reported on the power plan, however, yesterday the City revealed its time frame and how it would help to ease load shedding.
The additional energy, from alternative sources, would help the City avoid the lower stages of load shedding and it would only have to load shed from Stage 5 and above.
Chumisa Thengwa, the deputy head of biodiversity management and climate change, this week spoke of the City’s plan to ensure energy security in the short term and begin the process of energy transition towards zero-carbon emission.
Thengwa discussed the plan ahead of the City’s two-day Energy Transformation Summit which began today. The summit aims to discuss ways to build a more secure, sustainable energy supply.
In a recent opinion piece, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said the 400MW of alternative energy would include 300MW from gas and 100MW from solar in line with the City’s Energy Transition Policy. He said they had also started the final approval process in which they would be submitting the Section 34 Ministerial Determination to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy.
The municipality said recently that its energy requirements were at 1800MW, however, electricity consumption is starting to decline due to consumer preferences. It said it was starting to see small-scale embedded generation on industrial premises and at residential level.
She said the summit would provide an opportunity to brief potential suppliers on the City’s energy needs.
She said since the City revealed its intention to secure 400MW of power, it had received an overwhelming interest from potential suppliers, from Durban, across the country and internationally. “We are committed to local content, so we would want the entire value chain to be coming from Durban.”
She said the first step was securing energy supplies for residents and to mitigate the reliance on Eskom.
The City had identified solar as a viable option because of Durban’s climate, while natural gas was another option because there was already a gas pipeline from Mozambique to Richards Bay.
She said by June this year, the City hoped to issue an expression of interest and by December 2025, if all went according to plan, this energy would come to its grid.
She urged residents to take part in the summit or to keep abreast of developments through the City’s social- media platforms.