City of Cape Town's Strategy for Private Sector Engagement in Energy

Kadri Nassiep discusses the tenders issued by City of Cape Town (COCT) for embedded generation and dispatch-able energy, which offer long-term power purchase agreements of 20 years for solar projects and 10 years for larger projects.

COCT is taking a cautious approach to ensure they do not end up with stranded assets due to load shedding. For demand response, contracts range from 7 to 10 years. COCT is also opening up the market to commercial and residential sectors for exporting excess power.

A change from state to self-consumption is expected, and COCT is reviewing trading platforms to engage the market and enter into shorter-term contracts.

These platforms would operate nationally and possibly internationally, providing opportunities for private sector generators to access offers within their city, province, and nationally