City of Johannesburg to host first Energy Indaba on Monday

The City of Johannesburg will on Monday host its first-ever Energy Indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre, under the theme ‘Re-Imagining Energy’.

Energy and policy experts, scholars, and potential Independent Power Producers alongside government representatives will attend the two-day Indaba.

The City says it is hoping to partner with independent power producers and small-scale energy generators to alleviate rolling blackouts.

“One of the very important things is that the independent power producers that we are wanting to engage hoping that we can then move away from the dependency of Eskom to ensure that we have other sources of energy being provided to our residents in the city of Johannesburg,” says Michael Sun, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services.

Power utility Eskom has admitted that it has failed to find solutions to some of the ongoing problems.

This is after a damning report by the University of Johannesburg, which alleges that Eskom’s programme of Load Reduction is based on apartheid-era principles.

The report by the University of Johannesburg titled “Energy Racism” also highlights “special price agreements” with which Eskom has signed with mining companies Anglo and South32.

These agreements allow Eskom to sell electricity at much lower rates to two of the biggest mining companies in Africa.

Eskom says that due to the continued shortage of generation capacity, Stage 2 blackouts will be implemented from 5 to 10 pm throughout the week.

The power utility says there may also be instances where blackouts might need to be implemented outside of these hours.

Eskom is appealing to all South Africans to help limit the impact of blackouts by reducing the usage of electricity and to switch off all non-essential items.