Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced on Wednesday that documents detailing the city’s upcoming procurement of electricity from independent power producers (IPPs) would be published in the next two weeks.

The documents would include the announcement of tenders for the purchase of electricity from IPPs and timelines for integrating IPP-generated electricity into the city’s supply network.

In a statement released as Eskom initiated its first round of load-shedding for 2022, Hill-Lewis described the introduction of IPPs as a crucial step in ending rotational power cuts over time.

“The economic effects of a reliable power supply in Cape Town will mean more profitable businesses and more job opportunities.

“Every Capetonian will benefit,” Hill-Lewis said in a statement.

The City of Cape Town is not the only metropolitan council weighing the procurement of electricity from IPPs, with eThekwini, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni all having indicated that they intend to do likewise.

In 2020, the Electricity Regulations on New Generation Capacity of the Electricity Regulation Act was amended to enable municipalities in good financial standing to procure new generation capacity in accordance with the national Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

Cape Town, which took legal action ahead of the amendment in an effort to open the avenue for IPP procurement by local government, has been preparing its procurement plans for several years.

It has indicated previously that it has been working with the National Treasury on a framework for a municipal-led renewables procurement programme along the lines of national government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

It also initiated work on a mini-IRP in an effort to prepare the ground for the procurement programme.