Energy Resilience
South Africa is currently in an electricity crisis, as demonstrated by rotational load shedding, due to shortages in reliable generation capacity at Eskom. Intensive and frequent load shedding impacts are crippling business productivity and profitability; have significant impacts on human health and safety; and place municipalities’ revenue base under serious threat due to lost sales through load shedding, diesel costs to maintain critical services, infrastructure maintenance impacts due to load shedding, and consumers defecting from the grid.
Substantiated by the economic impact of energy insecurity and increasing global climate change response action (e.g. carbon trade barriers), energy resilience is a necessary condition for business competitiveness, confidence, investment, growth and job preservation and creation. Without energy resilience, economic opportunities and low–carbon sustainable development will be constrained.
The Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme has the following strategic objectives:
- Reducing the impacts of load shedding on businesses and citizens in the Western Cape and
- Facilitating a lower level of reliance on Eskom in the Western Cape, by reducing offtake:
- Between 500MW - 750MW by 2025 (Short Term)
- Between 750MW - 1 800MW by 2027 (Medium Term) and
- Between 1 800MW - 5 700MW by 2035 (Long Term)
See below for more information.
Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme
Go here to find out more on the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme
Energy Efficiency Tips
Solar PV for Home and Business
Go here to find out about upgrading to a Solar PV system for your home or business
Previous work on LNG
Go here to find out about what the Western Cape Government is doing to develop an LNG industry
The Impact of Energy on Climate Change
Go here to find out about the relationship between climate change and our energy use