MTN has hooked up traffic lights in the vicinity of its offices to its generators and is using spare capacity to power the lights during Eskom outages.
The enlightened self-interest, the company says, is to keep the traffic flowing and allow staff and customers to enter and leave its campus.
"Yes, I can confirm that MTN is sponsoring the traffic lights at the entrance and exit of 14th Avenue, in Fairland," says MTN SA spokesperson Ntombi Mhangwani.
"MTN is one of the major corporates operating in this area and we need to play our part in relieving the traffic that occurs during the load-shedding time. This sponsorship has also helped to relieve the traffic along 14th Avenue when MTN staff members arrive and leave the office."
Verizon Business SA is looking at following suit. "Like many other companies in SA, we are concerned about the impact of electricity failures to businesses and consumers alike," says marketing and social responsibility executive Nomalanga Nkosi.
"As such, the company is examining viable options to utilise existing infrastructure to support the community," she adds.
Meanwhile, the Johannesburg Roads Agency is stepping up its programme to roll-out uninterruptible power supply and solar panelling to key traffic lights in the city. Hydrogen fuel cells are also under consideration. More than 2 000 critical traffic intersections have been identified in Johannesburg alone.
Business Report adds that a solar-powered traffic lights pilot project has been running successfully in Cape Town since last September.
The newspaper reports that the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has committed R40 million to install solar panels on traffic lights at major city intersections "in the next few weeks, subject to the delivery of imported components".
CEF CEO Mputumi Damane says "support from major organisations" may boost that by a further R60 million, to R100 million.
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