In its bid to end load shedding in the long term, the city of Cape Town has issued a request for information (RFI) for energy trading solutions. These include market operation and underwriting services, energy aggregation services and other services related to energy trading platforms.
The city plans to procure around 1 000 MW in total over the long term, according to the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
“This includes procurement of 200 MW of embedded renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and the 500 MW Dispatchable Energy tender, which includes renewables, battery storage and gas to power aspects.
“The City also has a demand response tender called the Power Heroes programme, which was issued in the energy aggregator field. This forms part of its plans to protect Cape Town from up to four stages of Eskom load-shedding,” says van Reenen.
The aim of the energy trading solutions RFI is to test the market for innovative energy trading-related services and models that can accommodate the peculiarities of local government procurement to bring on much needed additional electricity to the grid.
“To meet this growing challenge facing the country, we will need to be innovative. The city intends to explore all alternatives and options, particularly ones that can provide the most benefit in the short term. This is yet another exciting step in Cape Town's new energy journey, and we call on all potential partners to join us,” says van Reenen.
This RFI is open to all energy industry stakeholders. However, the city is particularly encouraging responses from energy trading platforms, market operators or energy aggregators.
Those interested can access the RFI on the city of Cape Town’s tender portal and submit a response by 19 April 2023.
Attraction
Cape Town is the first South African metro to take this initiative, which will further enhance its electricity supply capabilities. Cape Town is already known for its ability to mitigate the effects of load shedding on its residents. When the rest of the country is experiencing Stage 4 load shedding, citizens of the Mother City experience just Stage 3 or – even Stage 2.
According to Samuel Seeff, chairman of the Seeff Property Group, Cape Town remains the most popular area for buyers from other provinces to move to.
"More buyers are heading here compared to any other semigration areas. Service delivery and some of the best schools and universities in the country, along with the coastal lifestyle, are among the top reasons. Buyers are often prepared to sacrifice size and space because property prices are about 20% higher in the Cape compared to the rest of the country,” says Seeff.
The growing stream of semigration to the Western Cape is by no means a new trend, says Brent Townes, commercial property chief operating officer for Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in Cape Town.
“However, it’s no longer only families that are relocating, but also businesses - particularly commercial property owner-occupiers who are seeking better service delivery and, of course, more reliable power. We have noted increased demand for business premises.”
A recent report by the Auditor-General revealed that only 41 of the 257 municipalities in South Africa received clean audits. The report also found that many municipalities are not prioritising spending on critical infrastructure maintenance, resulting in service delivery failures.
In addition, considering 22 of the 41 municipalities with clean audits are in the Western Cape, Townes expects the migration of businesses to the province to increase in future.
“Cape Town has a high service delivery rating and also experiences less load shedding than the rest of the country. With the local government on track with its scheme for commercial property owners to supply their own solar-generated power back to the local grid, the future is certainly looking brighter here in the Cape,” says Townes.
Cape Town is also increasingly popular with buy-to-let investors. According to the latest ooba Home Loans report, the Western Cape registered a sharp increase in applications for buy-to-let properties as a percentage of total applications in February 2023, rising from 18.1% in January to 21.9% in February. This exceeds the pre-Covid-19 high of 21.5% in March 2020.
Writer: Sarah-Jane Meyer