The City of Joburg wants out of load shedding. Well, them and everyone else in South Africa. This doesn’t make Joburg special. The difference is, Joburg wants to do something about it. Later this week, the City of Joburg will publish its first Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to try and secure 500MW of renewable power for Joburg.
“We realized that if we were to insulate businesses from this, we need to procure up to 500MW of renewable energy over a period of 18 to 36 months. We are ready to start seeing the back of rolling blackouts so that the economy of Joburg works without interruption,” it said.
The city’s RFPs are set to be published in mid-November.
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
The City of Joburg said that it contributes to around 16% of the national economy and 40% of Gauteng’s economy.
“The reality is that if Joburg’s economy collapses, it would send significant shockwaves across the country and the continent. (We) cannot be left without energy for hours on end. As the government, we are working so that you can work.”
And it isn’t just helping businesses by slowing down the rolling blackouts. Plans are in place to organize a major revamp within the inner city. This includes taking back hijacked buildings to use as low-cost housing and mixed-use buildings.
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“These developments will have to comply with our Green Building Policy as part of our concerted effort to achieve low to net zero carbon performance for all new buildings in Joburg by 2030 while achieving a total net zero performance compliance standard by 2050.”
If all goes according to plan, with increased investment and more environmentally friendly construction, the city believes that it could have 143,000 jobs up for grabs by 2030. Let’s hope it can follow through.
The jury is still out on the City’s idea to add an additional 500MW to Joburg’s grid. We’ll provide an update after the city publishes its RPFs later this month.
Source: BusinessTech
