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Johannesburg has several measures in the pipeline to help conserve power; and residents will benefit as fewer load shedding power cuts will be necessary.
The City will roll out solar-powered traffic lights and public lighting over the next three months
IN just one measure to conserve power, the City of Johannesburg will roll out solar-powered traffic lights and public lighting over the next three months.
This will allow it to save up to 100MW of electricity within 12 months; residents will also experience fewer load shedding periods, according to Executive Mayor Amos Masondo.
He was speaking at a briefing on electricity load shedding in Gauteng attended by the province's MEC for local government, Qedani Mahlangu, and several other Gauteng mayors, on Monday, 4 February.
Over the past month, whole suburbs have experienced load shedding power cuts up to three times a day, especially in Eskom-supplied townships like Soweto and areas like Sandton. Work hours have also been lost because workers have been stuck in traffic jams caused by traffic lights being out.
In response, the City has come up with short- to medium-term programmes to acquire alternative power.
"A gas turbine that will contribute 30MW of electricity will be installed at the Kelvin Power Station by December and part of the station will be upgraded with a modern generation plant. We expect the station to generate a maximum of 500MW by 2013," Masondo said.
eGoli Gas would ensure the supply of gas critical to the re-instatement of City Power's gas turbine, a move that would be complemented by the roll out of infrastructure to households.
With climate change and environmental conservation topping the agenda the world over, the installation of compact fluorescent lights in 300 000 Joburg households would not only benefit residents but would be critical to conserving the environment, Masondo explained. "This project will cost R15-million and up to 45MW will be saved."
In the next 18 months geyser ripple controls would be installed, at a cost of R270-million, enabling City Power to control an additional 150MW during load shedding. Eskom and the Development Bank of Southern Africa would chip in to help households with the installation of solar water heaters.
Public buildings and various government and private institutions consume a lot of electricity, and Mahlangu said the provincial government would engage, for example, with the Ministry of Education to ensure that schools conserved electricity.
"There are certain areas that are exempted from load shedding, which include hospitals, prisons and 2010-relevant projects like the Gautrain project. We are also mobilising resources with the Department of Minerals and Energy to ensure that load shedding has a minimum impact on residents."
Mahlangu also assured citizens that the province's water and sewer systems would be exempted from load shedding to guard against outbreaks of disease caused by malfunctioning water treatment plants.
Masondo said the City was using the electricity shortage to educate residents and bring them on board as partners in finding lasting solutions to electricity supply problems.
"Together with the province we have come up with a communication strategy that will see us convening ward meetings and distributing information packs with information on how citizens can save electricity."
Mahlangu said that local government electricity suppliers must consult with Eskom and come up with ways to distribute equally the 10 percent load shedding the national distributor required. City Power is Johannesburg's electricity supplier.
Eskom and local governments must also use cellphone technology, sending SMS alerts to residents informing them about which areas would experience load shedding; this would help people to plan accordingly.
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