March 10 2025

Cape Town opens electricity grid to private investors

March 09, 2025

The City of Cape Town has opened its electricity grid to private energy trading following the completion of a year-long wheeling pilot project. The initiative enables private-sector participants to buy electricity directly from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) or licensed traders using the municipal grid infrastructure.

  • Early this month, the Cape Town municipality received a loan of $150 million from the German development bank KfW for electricity grid infrastructure upgrades. This funding will support the municipality's ambitious three-year "Building For Jobs" project, which plans to invest over $220 million in electricity grid upgrades and maintenance.

  • South Africa unbundled its electricity sector in response to Eskom's load-shedding crisis. This move aims to increase energy investment and enable municipalities to trade independently with IPPs and energy traders.

  • Our take: Opening up the electricity network for private sector trading allows Cape Town the option to select the best deals and, in turn, offer its consumers competitive electricity prices… Read more (2 min)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has granted the Republic of Congo $1.5 million to support its energy sector. The funds are split into two grants: the first will finance studies for hydroelectric dam development, and the second will finance the feasibility study and detailed design of transmission lines.

  • The Republic of Congo's grid relies mainly on hydropower, which accounts for over 90% of its total installed capacity. However, the country has only utilised less than 5% of its total feasible hydropower capacity of 3,942 MW.

  • About half its population is connected to electricity, with 65.6% in urban areas and 12.7% in rural areas. The country is working to improve access to electricity, especially in rural areas, focusing on improving the quality and access to electricity services.

  • Our take:.The country's removal of fuel subsidies levels the playing field for renewables and fossil fuels and frees up capital for renewable investments… Read more (2 min)

Want to know where energy players will be meeting this year? Our 2025 event guide is your key. We've identified 20+ essential gatherings covering energy investments and financing, power and water, and emerging technologies like battery energy storage systems. Addressing labour is crucial, and we have one event focused on youths & skills.

  • Kenya and South Africa will host 14 events in total – that's more than half of the total. These two countries have made significant progress in policies and regulations that attract private capital investments.

  • Interestingly, the Republic of Congo will be hosting the first-ever Congo Energy & Investment Forum from 24-26 March 2025, as it plans to connect project developers with Congolese regulators and policymakers.

  • See where energy professionals are converging across the continent HERE.

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Participants of the solar PV training program by Debre Markos University, in Ethiopia, celebrate at the end of training

Jobs

💼 Join CLASP as a Senior Program Manager (Kenya)

👨🏻‍💼 Become Energicity’s Finance Manager (Sierra Leone)

🛠️ Head WSP’s engineering department (South Africa)

Various 

📚 Register for the Solar EPRA T2 and T3 training program in Nairobi

💡 Husk Power implements a period leave policy in support of female employees

🔋 World Bank to decide on $2.6 billion green finance for South Africa by end week

 

Seen on LinkedIn 

Humphrey Kariuki, Founder of Janus Continental Group, says, “The investment gap in Africa’s renewable energy sector is a missed opportunity that demands immediate action.”

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