Cape Town: The Energy Directorate of the City of Cape Town is exploring a series of research pilot projects in hot spot areas across the metro as part of the City’s broader strategy to combat ongoing theft and vandalism of critical energy infrastructure and its Protect Your Power campaign.
Reportedly, the pilot initiatives are designed to test and evaluate different anti-vandalism technologies and solutions in real world conditions. The insights are gained from these projects will play an important role in informing future interventions for more effective and long-term solutions to protect the power infrastructure.
They form part of the wider vandalism mitigation programme of the city, which aims to safeguard essential electricity infrastructure, improve reliability and reduce electricity service disruptions that is experienced by the communities, as far as possible.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Energy – Alderman Xanthea Limberg stated that in the previous financial year, the City incurred costs exceeding R62 million due to electricity infrastructure theft, vandalism, and illegal connections. By February of the current financial year, the costs have already surpassed R49 million, that reflected the urgent need for continued and strengthened interventions as the City makes progress in fighting back against the scourge.
According to Limberg, by assessing the effectiveness of the number of interventions, they aim to identify scalable solutions that could be implemented across hot spot areas.
Notably, the research pilot project is being conducted in collaboration with private sector participants through a Request for Information (RFI) process. Under this arrangement, the City of Cape Town is restricted from disclosing detailed information about the technologies that is currently under evaluation, as such information is considered proprietary and subject to confidentiality obligations.
The City launched Protect Your Power, a first-of-its-kind campaign. It highlights the impact of vandalism, theft, and illegal connections that leave communities in the dark. Energy Safety Team and City Law Enforcement will continue to be visible in all hotspot areas. The City is expanding anti-theft and vandalism tech solutions. It is installing low-street-value equipment in place of copper to discourage theft and vandalism
The City of Cape Town asks members of the public to report any suspicious behaviour to them so that they can Protect Your Power together. Electrical infrastructure is typically situated in the communities, often abutting private property. Swift reporting will enable the City to act with speed to prevent extensive damage.