Cape Town – The City of Cape Town’s budget for 2023/24 proposes continued investment in its Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme, laying the foundation for a potential estimated investment of R1.2 billion over the next nine years.
The City said that estimated investment of R1.2 billion would be used on the maintenance and expansion of the Steenbras Hydro Pump Station.
The move is also to continue the protection of customers against some of the impacts of load shedding and to safeguard Cape Town’s electrical infrastructure.
The 160 megawatt Steenbras Hydro Pump Station (SHPS) consists of four turbines that are used to generate electricity.
During peak electricity demand, it channels water from Upper Steenbras to Lower Steenbras, through the turbine generator, to create electricity.
When electricity usage is low, usually between 23:00 and 07:00, the turbines pump the water back to the Upper Steenbras Dam to be re-used the next day. In this way, SHPS operates like a battery.
The amount of electricity that it can generate in one day is limited by the capacity of the lower reservoir.
Cape Town is the only city in South Africa to own and operate a large pumped hydro-electric scheme.
Budget and execution of the professional services will determine the final budget and delivery programme. City said all due process will be followed in terms of regulatory and legislative requirements.
Mayco member for energy, Beverley van Reenen said: “Approximately R1 billion has been set aside for the refurbishment and extension of the Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme and approximately R200 million is earmarked for the maintenance of Steenbras.
“The investment in Steenbras and the maintenance programme is crucial to fulfilling our commitment to protect customers from a stage or two of load shedding where possible, with plans to expand protection with up to four stages in the near future as part of the load-shedding protection plan.
“Importantly, all Capetonians benefit directly or indirectly from the City’s power generation management and load shedding protection as it also protects critical City infrastructure used for service provision and protects the City’s electricity network,” said Van Reenen.
The budget allocations enable the City to begin the process of delivering on the mayor’s Energy Priority Programme to end load shedding. It includes:
- R220 million on embedded independent power purchase
- R288 million on the Power Heroes programme which looks at voluntary power reduction in return for an incentive
- Estimate R1 billion investment in Steenbras (over the next nine years) subject to all due diligence and legal and regulatory processes
- R640 million on solar PV; R53 million Cash for Power programme, which involves selling excess power back to the City
- R50 million in Battery Storage
- R32 million on waste-to-energy