Cape Town’s electricity wheeling pilot to begin

 PHOTO: Wheeling power

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced that 15 commercial electricity suppliers will start wheeling electricity through Cape Town’s grid following City Council approval later this month. The City’s Mayoral Committee this week greenlit the authorization for third parties to start selling electricity using Cape Town’s grid infrastructure. 

Mayor Hill-Lewis said electricity wheeling is one way to help address the country's energy shortage, and Cape Town is leading the country with a unique pilot project to have wheeling pilot installed across the city by the end of this year.

“Wheeling allows people to buy electricity from each other using existing grid infrastructure. The future is now, as Cape Town gears up for the first electron to be wheeled between our pilot projects participants this July.”

Cape Town's electricity landscape is rapidly liberalizing off the back of our end load shedding plans, with 700MW of independent power under procurement, innovative Cash for Power and Power Heroes programs, and now the sale of electricity wheeled between market participants.

The City is getting on top of the complexity of wheeling, and this requires new skills, regulatory and policy changes, billing development and bilateral agreements. 

Cape Town also has the enabling legislative framework in place for wheeling, with the City's Electricity Supply By-Law allowing for the retail wheeling of electricity through the network. Wheeling will take place on 11kV and higher voltages.

 

Done by: Esona Mfazwe