At the beginning of the year, news reports announced that the City of Cape Town (CoCT) intended to set up its own power supply grid and ‘break free’ from Eskom. While the headlines greatly simplify the complexity of the city’s goals, the suggestion that it could make a move away from Eskom, and potentially say goodbye to loadshedding, holds particular appeal.

Over the last 20 years, the world’s energy landscape has changed quite a bit, and that’s been compounded by our local situation, says Phindile Maxiti, mayoral committee member for Energy and Climate Change at CoCT. “Global environmental concerns, prompted by a greater understanding of the harmful effects of carbon emissions that lead to climate change, in concert with the systemic corruption, malfeasance, fraud and state capture alleged at Eskom precipitated an energy crisis of national importance, prompting the need for urgent reform.”