The City of Cape Town’s Atlantis solar PV plant has, to date, seen the installation of around 2 400 solar panels out of the planned 12 850 panels as part of this R200-million renewable-energy project.

The plant, with an initial capacity of 7 MW, will be connected to the local grid by the end of the year.

City of Cape Town Energy MMC Xanthea Limberg says the Atlantis site will operate as a hybrid plant alongside the city’s first utility-scale battery storage operation, totalling 8 MW.

“This project will also contribute to achieving the city’s goal of net-zero carbon municipal buildings by 2030.

“The renewable-energy certificates generated from this solar project will meaningfully offset carbon emissions associated with the city’s operations,” she adds.

“It’s awe-inspiring to see thousands of panels springing up at this first city-owned solar plant in South Africa,” notes Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“This plant can potentially scale up to 10 MW, feeding directly into our local grid.”

He says the aim is for alternative energy to meet 35% of the city’s total demand by 2030.

The city has various renewable-energy and efficiency initiatives under way to meet this target, including plans for a 60 MW solar plant at Paardevlei, which should provide sufficient protection from one stage of Eskom loadshedding.

The city is also looking to further optimise municipal buildings for maximum energy efficiency, with current savings already at R350-million a year.

Projects to implement renewable energy to power major wastewater works and water treatment plants are also under way, as well as waste-to-energy initiatives which can turn landfill gas to power.

Other programmes include the continued rollout of efficient streetlight installations; further upgrades to the city’s Steenbras hydro-plant, already providing up to two stages of loadshedding protection; the procurement of embedded generation power on the open market; and the opening of the city grid to allow energy traders to wheel power.