The City of Cape Town is committed to achieve its vision of energy security for a prosperous Cape Town as outlined in the Energy Strategy 2050. Member of the Mayoral Committee for Energy – Alderman Xanthea Limberg on March 04, 2025 joined experts from across Africa and delivered an address at the 17th edition of the ‘Energy Indaba’ event.
Africa Energy Indaba 2025 is the flagship event of the continent, which is dedicated to the energy sector. The annual event plays a significant role in connecting energy industry leaders, investors as well as the civil society and government to drive the collective energy agenda of the African continent.
As per Xanthea Limberg, the Africa Energy Indaba allows all participants the opportunity to take stock of their achievements and learnings and as the City of Cape Town, by being a proud sponsor. They are excited to join the 17th edition under 2025 theme ‘Igniting the power revolution in Africa’.
Indaba plays a crucial role in shaping conversations with energy partners and participants in the collective endeavour for energy security, development and economic growth.
Considering the Energy Mayoral Priority Programme of the City of Cape Town, the energy team is making exceptional progress towards the vision of a prosperous energy future. They have spent a significant amount of the resources in modernising the existing City services, by improving the efficiency and setting themselves up for building a capable future-fit energy utility.
Limberg stated that they are proud that they have successfully launched online small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) application platform, which has made the application process easier for customers and alike installers alike, and has also led to applications that are being approved in record time.
At the back of that successful launch, the City of Cape Town continues to process hundreds of applications with customers taking advantage of the ‘cash-for-power’ programme, where the city incentivises small scale generators for feeding their excess power into the grid.
Reportedly, the City of Cape Town is investing more than R4 billion on power infrastructure projects as part of the new budget from 2024 to 2027. They are investing in smart municipal buildings, energy efficient lighting projects and a number of other exciting projects.
Construction of the first ground-mounted 7-10 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Atlantis remains on schedule and they expect it to be completed by 2025. The team is also looking to maximise the energy output of the plant with the addition of Battery Storage in the coming years.
The saw investment and partnerships within the energy sector as a catalyst for job creation, economic growth and development in the country. Through the planned investments in the years ahead, they estimate the creation of 130,000 jobs in the construction sector alone.
Alderman Limberg added that working with the partners, they have secured technical assistance from various international institutions, including grant funding to expand the developmental agenda and improve the energy systems.
Moreover, they are looking to maintain and expand the existing infrastructure fleet, that will include the investment in life-extension of the Steenbras Pumped-Hydro Storage facility, that serves as a strategic purpose in the metro city.