Free solar project in Diepsloot ‘impeded’ by City Power staff
CITY Power of ficials “acted as a barrier” to a Greenpeace Africa-funded project to install 50 solar- powered street lights in four crime hot spots in Diepsloot.
Ultimately, the project had to be scaled down (see main story) to get of f the ground.
Melita Steele, the senior climate and energy campaign manager, says the utility has so far shown “a clear lack of interest in renewable energy as a solution to limited service delivery in Johannesburg.
“From Greenpeace Africa’s perspective, it seems like City Power have actively blocked this project from going ahead, with numerous excuses and delay tactics.
“With no plans to electrify Diepsloot for years to come, innovative solutions l i ke solar street l i ghts should be the way of the future.”
In its proposal submitted to the City of Joburg several years ago, Greenpeace Africa outlined how the four sites had been identified and proposed by community members as crime hot spots.
These were areas most in need of street lighting as they were “completely dark” and would likely not be electrified for the next decade.
Greenpeace Africa had wanted to demonstrate that “renewable energy is a real solution to a number of the challenges that South Africans face, and that the technologies are more t han capable of delivering both a better quality of l ife, and energy security”.
The project would be entirely funded by Greenpeace, using crowdfunding as a fund-raising platfor m.
Cor respondence revealed how it had communicated with for mer mayor Parks Tau, City manager Trevor Fowler and t hen MD for City Power Sicelo Xulu (who is on special l eave amid a g raft probe) and various regional directors in the City of Joburg.
I n i t s response t o Greenpeace Africa, City Power stated the merits of the proposal were encouraging, and it was “particularly interested by the unique concept of crowdfunding to realise this community project”.
It added: “We understand t hat the crowdfunding would relieve City Power of immediate CapEx requirements and hence may be considered as a unique concept.”
Steele said Paul Ver meulen, the manager of demand and supply side management, had infor med Greenpeace Africa it needed to go through an unsolicited bid process.
“But t hat was never f i nalised, despite many requests for finalisation throughout 2016,” she says.
“The issue was escalated to the director of finance, and the SCM (supply chain management) bid committee was supposed to resolve it, but never did, despite multiple promises that it would be finalised and advertised.”
Ver meulen told the Saturday Star this week: “This was essentially an unsolicited bid, and it was agreed this process be followed to get the project approved. The proposal was given to our SCM department to execute, but has stalled for various reasons.”