Solar installation applications hit record numbers in Cape Town amid ongoing load shedding

News24

-- More than 2 300 new applications were made this year, with 700 of those in March. -- The City of Cape Town is set to start buying electricity generated from businesses and residents. -- Cape Town's mayor says the figures show an energised market response to the metro's incentives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applications for solar installations in Cape Town have soared amid ongoing load shedding.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the City had received a record number of new applications for installing rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. More than 2 300 new applications were made this year, with 700 of those in March.

"Just the first four months of 2023 account for 21% of all solar PV applications received since records began.

"These figures show an energised market response to Cape Town's incentives for businesses and residents with solar PV generation capacity," he said.

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He said residential applications are driving the increase as homeowners look to capitalise on the City's incentive programmes which offer households cash for their excess rooftop solar power.

"To make going solar even more attractive, the City is raising the residential small-scale embedded generation tariff by 10.15% for 2023/24, plus a 25c per kWh incentive. The City is also significantly reducing the monthly AMI (Advance Metering Infrastructure) meter administration fee in 2023/24.

"This is aside from the new national tax incentives for solar PV investment," said Hill-Lewis.

The City is set to start paying businesses for power generation in June and residents will be able to start selling power to the metro later this year.

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There is also a planned campaign later this year to incentivise households to sign up for remote demand management during peak times, such as for power-hungry geysers and pool pumps.

"In fact, should just 25 000 of Cape Town's more than 600 000 electricity customers sign-up as Power Heroes, we can protect against an additional one full stage of load shedding during peak hours," said Hill-Lewis.

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