Housing in Southern Africa April 2015

Energy Efficiency, Green Building & IBTs

Energy crisis needs collective action

Large metros have to be key drivers in the quest to find urgent solutions to the energy crisis. The City of Cape Town, as the fastest growing metro in the country, urges other metros to join them and to actively participate in constructive action to mitigate the impact of the electricity supply shortage on the commercial sector.

embedded generation and we are investigating ways in which this pro- gramme can be ramped up to bring more electrons on to the grid through renewable energy,” says Neilson. He added, “The feasibility of imple- menting our own demand-response system, whereby businesses can be contracted to reduce demand imme- diately as opposed to having to im- plement load shedding, is currently being investigated. We are also step- ping up our efforts to diversify our energymix by, for instance, exploring options in terms of procuring power from independent power producers, particularly renewable energy and gas-fired turbines. This will, however, require the cooperation of National Government and we feel confident that we can find solutions that will also enable us to build more of a gas economy in Cape Town through fuel switching.” This would directly sup- port the growth of larger-scale renew- able energy resources in Cape Town and theWestern Cape. He concluded that metros must become the energy champions of their residents and of their commercial sector players. ■

A ccording to the City of Cape Town Executive Deputy Mayor, Ian Neilson, metros are the growth engines of the country and the full effect on business operations, investment and job creation in South Africa is yet to be felt. Economist, Mike Schussler has given a conservative estimate that it is costing business about R6 billion per month for Stage 1 load shedding; R12 billion per month for Stage 2 load shedding; and R24 billion per month for Stage 3 load shedding. “Given that Cape Town’s output is approximately 11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and we are mostly affected by Stage 1 and 2 load shedding, Cape Town is prob- ably losing more than R1 billion per month. These estimates comprise the damage caused as a result of no

supply and they exclude the long- term cost of job losses, stunted economic growth, and the drop in investor confidence. We have already signaled that we intend taking back our power. With our partners in the Western Cape Government, Eskom and in the private sector, we must change the energy regime in Cape Town.” At the Energy Efficiency Forumand in partnershipwith Eskom, the South African Property Owners Association, Old Mutual and other stakeholders, the city is looking at a range of op- tions to minimise the impact of load shedding on our business sector. “We are also looking at ways in which we can use our pumped-storage scheme at Steenbras Dam to lessen the im- pact of load shedding. Cape Town is also one of the first cities to promote

April 2015