Cape Town, South Africa’s southernmost city, moves closer to the light with the launch of its ‘Cash for Power’ scheme. As the name implies, if you live in the area and have excess power lying around, the Mother City will buy it from you for cold hard cash – or soft warm cash, if you’d prefer.
The new scheme doesn’t exactly make it easy for denizens to earn, but those who are willing to jump through the bureaucratic hoops can use the credit from their excess generation to settle their municipal account and bank the change for a rainy day.
Cape Town’s ‘Cash for Power’ plan
The city’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, announced on Monday that the first round of applications is open now until 8 March, saying “We will buy as much solar power as households and businesses can sell to us under the Cash for Power programme.”
Along with selling excess power, willing households can also opt to have their geysers switched off remotely during peak times as an extra measure to avoid a full load-shedding stage.
Businesses that meet the requirements are also permitted to sell their excess power to other participating businesses, a move that is expected to add 350MW to Cape Town’s power grid.
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Households and businesses interested in selling off their excess power should become familiar with this page. It lays out the required steps, like having a “City-approved” inverter installed, additional notes, and the relevant documentation along with the appropriate application channels for commercial and residential customers.
Cape Town’s Cash for Power programme announcement comes mere days after South Africa’s president concluded his State of the Nation address saying that the end of load shedding was “finally within reach” before the country escalated to Stage 6 power cuts for the first time this year.