Infrastructure
- Whether the Western Cape Government is using alternative energy sources during load-shedding in government buildings in the province; if so, what are the costs involved;
- what is the plan to make Western Cape government buildings energy resilient?
- The DTPW, in its capacity as custodian and manager of provincial government buildings has installed backup generators in all provincially owned office buildings and in this way has addressed all previous load-shedding demands since 2015/16.
The capacity of the generators is based on the electrical demands of each building and the department performs routine maintenance comprising several services per year on all backup generators.
The costs incurred by the DTPW relate to routine maintenance of backup generators, additional mechanical repairs due to the frequency of extended loadshedding and diesel, the purchase and hire of additional generators and equipment, as well as diesel. The detailed repair and maintenance costs relating to generators specifically cannot easily be extracted from the total operational maintenance costs incurred by the DTPW in respect of all mechanical and electrical installations. However, the DTPW will have spent in the region of R5.1m for diesel for the various back up generators provided across the general building portfolio from 1 April 2022 to 28 February 2023. Over the same period, the department will have incurred an amount of about R633,000.00 for the hiring of generators to further support various departments’ operational requirements, and approximately R1.3m, for the procurement of new generators and related equipment, specifically bousers, which are holding tanks and trailers for diesel.
Since 2017, the Department of Transport and Public Works has furthermore installed solar photovoltaic panels on several provincially owned buildings and sites to supplement electrical supply. Currently, these installations are grid-tied, meaning that provincial buildings remain on the national power grid. There is therefore less demand for Eskom power and enhanced resilience of our infrastructure.
The DTPW’s most recent solar PV projects include a ground-mounted installation at Elsenburg which is managed by the Department of Agriculture, and the solar PV installation covering the parking area at the Green Building located on the Karl Bremer hospital site in Bellville. These will be completed before the end of March 2023.
- Feasibility assessments are ongoing to determine the most appropriate alternative energy solutions, including battery storage for various provincially owned facilities and sites for which the Department of Transport and Public Works is responsible.
