Big boost for Cape Town’s best weapon against load shedding
The City of Cape Town is looking to inject R107 million into services as part of a project to refurbish its Steebras Pumped Storage Scheme over the next few years.
This will ensure that the scheme is maintained and primed for operation so that the current protections it offers against load shedding can continue.
The city said that all due processes will be followed in terms of regulatory and legislative requirements for the refurbishment, adding that the budget and execution of the services will determine the final budget and delivery programme.
“This multi-year contract for the provision of professional services comprises some R107 million to enable the refurbishment of this valuable Cape Town asset that is protecting customers from up to two stages of load-shedding where possible,” it said.
“The contract period is 108 months from date of commencement and is programmed to start 15 February 2024 and end on 30 June 2032. It will lay the foundation for the refurbishment of the plant,” it said.
This project comes as part of wider plan to try and protect the city from up to four stages of load shedding over the next two years.
“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,” it said.
The 180 megawatt Steenbras Hydro Pump Station 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 23h00 and 07h00, the turbines pump the water back to the Upper Steenbras Dam to be re-used the next day. In this way, the pump operates like a battery.
The amount of electricity it can generate in one day is limited by the capacity of the lower reservoir.
Cape Town is currently the only city in South Africa to own and operate a large pumped hydro-electric scheme.
Because the scheme is not considered part of the city’s baseload – as it only goes into operation when load shedding is in effect – the city is able to use its generation power to alleviate some of the pressures of load shedding.
Read: Stage 6 load shedding hitting all week – here’s the new schedule
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