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Cape Town has taken the lead as the first City to empower residential households to receive cash for power from their solar PV generation systems. Residents of Cape Town who have rooftop solar are now able to sell back power to the City, and receive a compensation in return. The so-called Cash for Power Programme previously only applied to businesses, but now extends to residential household.
Solar systems that generate more electricity than is consumed can feed the excess back into Cape Town’s grid. Residents will be compensated through a reduction in their municipal bill, and once it reaches zero, they will receive cash. Previously, only business could participate in the municipality’s energy strategy, but residential households that want to participate in the Cash for Power Programme can now register as well.
The Cash for Power Programme is integrated into the Energy Strategy, which endeavours to safeguard the country from the challenges of load shedding, a secondary issue that arises during the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Cape Town is the first city that formally adopted the Energy Strategy.
In order to take part in the program, residents need to have a solar system approved by the City (or another grid-tied SSEG system). Additionally, consumers need the necessary bidirectional meter to be able to feed power back to the grid.
Customers wishing to only offset their electricity and rate account do not need to apply for the programme. They will be compensated on authorisation of their gird-tied SSEG system with feed-in. If you want to take it a step further, you can sign up and earn some cash for the power you generate. Any leftover credit will add up until it hits a certain amount, and then the City will send you a payout.
People who are interested need to be initially registered as a service provider on both the City Supplier Database and the National Treasury Web-Based Central Supplier Database (CSD).
Read more about registering your solar panels in Cape Town.
Consumers who participate in the Cash for Power Programme can receive compensation for their contribution. Initially, their municipal bill will be credited, and once it reaches zero, the City will proceed to provide cash payments to residents.
The approved feed-in tariff stands at 87c/kWh, as approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. Additionally, the City provides customers with an extra incentive of 25c/kWh.
Cape Town residents interested in selling excess power back to the City can currently sign up for the first round of this programme until March 8th.
Although the first round of registrations closes on 8 March, there will be other rounds later in the year, as announced by the mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Click the button below for more information and to register for the Cash for Power Programme:
