• The Mayor announced the launch of Cape Town’s Solar PV and battery storage project near Somerset West.

• The facility is expected to produce up to 60MW of renewable energy, as well as protect paying electricity customers in the city.

On Monday, April 17, Geordin Hill-Lewis the Mayor of Cape Town city declared the launch of the city’s R1.2 billion Paardevlei ground-mounted solar PV and battery storage project near Somerset West. 

The Mayor claims that the project will produce up to 60 megawatts of renewable energy which is sufficient to prevent one stage of load shedding and by the end of 2023, the Paardevlei facility’s feasibility study will be completed, as it is expected to be fully operational by August 2026.

“Our goal is to be free of stage 4 load shedding by 2026, but of course, if more of these projects come on sooner than we had hoped, we can actually get even higher than that”. With the generation of 60 megawatts, the plant is expected to protect paying electricity customers in the city from at least one stage of Eskom’s power cuts.

The C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF), which provides communities with financial and technical help to support a green and just transition has granted the project its support. This initiative is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Government of the United Kingdom, and the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD).

Cape Town city’s Mayor presented the city’s Building Hope Budget for 2023/2024, which includes an R2.3 billion end load shedding plan over three years and funding towards the Paardevlei solar photovoltaic plant. hill-Lewis also said that a separate 500-megawatt tender is now open to the public market, while agreements for the initial 200-megawatt tender are anticipated to be inked in 2023.