The City of Cape Town is inviting potential tenderers to bid for its first utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) facility.
This, after turning the sod at the site of the 7MW-10MW Atlantis solar photovoltaic (PV) plant last week.
The city’s battery storage project aims to serve as a pilot to eventually incorporate energy storage within the city’s network. By co-locating the battery system at the Atlantis PV plant, it allows the solar PV and BESS to operate in synergy as a hybrid plant, says the city.
“The utility-scale battery storage project will target a minimum-rated power output of 5MW, and useable energy storage capacity of 8MWh, roughly enough to power more than 300 homes with an average daily consumption of 25kWh per day,” explains alderman Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for energy.
“The integration of battery storage at our Atlantis solar PV facility makes our hybrid plant even more exciting. This initiative underscores our commitment to diversifying energy sources, enhancing sustainability, and actively working to lower electricity costs in the wake of Eskom's outrageous 44% tariff hike proposal.
“All of these projects are in our energy strategy and driven via our mayoral priority programme for greater energy security, and more affordable and cleaner energy for Cape Town. Most of these tenders and programmes are a first-of-its-kind and our city teams are working incredibly hard in a very tough regulatory and financial environment to make our city more future-fit and reduce our reliance on Eskom where we can.”
Battery storage systems are important as more renewable energy comes onto the grid. These systems enable the energy generated from solar or wind, for instance, to be stored until the energy is needed and used. These systems add to security and reliability of supply.
Last week, the city began construction of its R200 million solar PV plant, which is motivated by its 2050 energy strategy. The plan intends to diversify Cape Town’s energy resources to become future-fit.
The city encourages interested bidders to submit their applications by 20 November.
“We invite our potential private sector partners to visit our tender portal to become part of Cape Town’s energy path,” Limberg concludes.
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