The provincial government of Gauteng in South Africa is to spend over ZAR11 billion this year (US$1 billion) installing solar on all state-owned buildings in the province.
Speaking last week, Gauteng’s cabinet member for infrastructure development Qedani Mahlangu said the investment was in line with South Africa’s national plan, which aims for an increase in renewable energy generation.
Try Premium for just $1
- Full premium access for the first month at only $1
- Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
- Cancel anytime during the trial period
Premium Benefits
- Expert industry analysis and interviews
- Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
- Exclusive event discounts
Or get the full Premium subscription right away
Or continue reading this article for free
“This will enable us to harness the sun’s rays to meet, in part, government’s energy needs,” Malangu said.
“We have quantified the available roof top space on government-owned buildings to be approximately eight million square metres.”
Malangu said the planned programme would amount to generation capacity of 300MW at a cost of ZAR11.2 billion.
The country has just closed bidding for the third round of its national renewable energy procurement programme, which will award contracts for around 400MW of PV.
Power purchase agreements for over 1GW of PV have been awarded under the first two rounds of the programme.
