Employing ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES to improve service delivery

European funding is being put to good use in five municipalities to improve citizens’ quality of life while advancing energy security in South Africa.

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has received European funding to plan, design and implement the Viability and Validation of Innovation for Service Delivery (VVISD) programme with stakeholders including the DSI, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), CoGTA and SALGA.

Having been appointed as the overall programme manager by DSI, the TIA selected SANEDI to implement the programme’s energy management component. In addition to energy management, the VVISD programme has four other sub-programmes: innovative technology solutions, decision-support tools, innovation capacity and capability, and integration of innovation. uMhlathuzi is planning to increase the number of CCTV cameras installed in Richards Bay, Empangeni, Esikhaleni, Vulindlela, Enseleni, Mzingazi and other areas. This will improve security of citizens while generating data for planning purposes.

The DSI put out a call to municipalities to submit energy proposals that could improve their service delivery. Five municipalities succeeded in securing funding for their proposals, namely City of Cape Town, Drakenstein, Mbombela, Rustenburg and uMhlathuzi.

The City of Cape Town has two proposals. The first focuses on free basic alternative energy (FBAE), which is a subsidy in the form of a monthly coupon issued to informal dwellings that households can use to buy LPG or a basic solar home system (SHS) for lighting and cellphone charging. The second involves a geyser tag that improves energy management, water conservation and demand management.

Drakenstein’s project wants to improve revenue management through accurate billing, a more effective revenue collection process and prompt consumer payments, with long-term sustainability as ultimate outcome. This will be achieved with the installation of smart meters.

Mbombela aims to address strategic renewable energy issues and alternative fuel sources. This entails investigating and implementing appropriate and relevant renewable technologies.

Rustenburg proposed two energy-management projects aimed at controlling and reducing electricity consumption. The first is the installation of geyser-control devises to reduce household consumption, while the second involves public lighting load-control technology.

There is also the intention to install electricity distribution fault and protection devices such as passage indicators, distance-to-fault estimators, feeder automation, insulated conductors and SCADA.

Since being contracted by TIA in October 2022, SANEDI has conducted initial innovation and technology requirement analyses in all five participating municipalities and shared a draft memorandum of agreement with them. An internal municipal stakeholder forum has been established in two of the partnering municipalities, while similar work will be done in the rest. SANEDI has also drafted the terms of reference for the working group and project steering committees, thus preparing the groundwork for progress in the upcoming financial year.

SANEDI is proud to contribute to service delivery by using its technical capacity to advance the planning, development and implementation of energy-management solutions in partnership with municipalities.

More About The Vvisd Programme

The VVISD programme wants to support the South African government to improve the NSI and respond to priorities of the NDP. It furthermore aims to develop policy and programme interventions through dialogue and consultations with non-conventional partners and government stakeholders. The goal is to stimulate investment in RDI for service delivery that will improve the socioeconomic position of especially women, young people and vulnerable groups. Finally, the VVISD programme wants to support learning from models that have successfully applied innovation and commercialisation of technologies arising from existing cooperation and other projects.

The programme is expected to deliver a variety of benefits:

• Improve municipal service delivery by investigating and implementing energy management innovations and technologies in partnership with the municipalities.

• Advance the Presidential District Model of empowering communities at local level.

• Promote training and development of citizens through stakeholder engagement and, potentially, provide temporary employment opportunities.