City of Tshwane Council approves public participation report to lease Rooiwal and Pretoria West Power Stations

12 September 2023

Today, the City of Tshwane Council approved a public participation report for the proposed 40-year lease of the Rooiwal and Pretoria West Power Stations in terms of Regulation 35 of the Municipal Asset Transfer Regulations.

This an important first step in our energy master plan for Tshwane which, seeks to reduce the City's dependence on Eskom and alleviate the burden of load-shedding.

The Council-approved report forms part of the work of our Energy Task Team, which we appointed earlier in the year to look at a mix of energy solutions for the City in the face of the ongoing load-shedding crisis.

Key to the work of the Energy Task Team are plans to revive the Rooiwal and Pretoria West Power Stations. I want to make it clear that the mandate of this task team is not to favour any one energy provider or any one method of energy generation, but to open our offer as widely as possible to the market.

Capital upgrades are needed at Rooiwal Power Station and complete refurbishment is required at Pretoria West Power Station. However, the City does not have the technical or financial capacity to leverage on the potential of these assets to enhance the City's energy security, but we do have assets that can be used to secure successful partnerships through a Request for Proposals process.

However, we must first get the public's inputs into our plans and this is the step that Council approved today. The public will have 30 days to comment on the proposal, then the matter will return before Council for a final decision.

Reviving the two power stations is important for an energy-secure future for our City. Furthermore, it is important that we manage this process in a transparent and open manner.

Issued by Sipho Stuurman on behalf of Ciliiers Brink, Executive Mayor Of Tshwane, 12 September 2023