One man’s poo is another man’s power.
That seemed to be the thinking behind a lightning-fast visit by a high-powered delegation on Tuesday, 12 March 2019, from Metsimaholo Local Municipality to the City of Johannesburg.
The Free State-based municipality wants to use bodily waste to generate electricity for its residents, who number just over 200 000 in total.
After a warm welcome by the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Nico de Jager, who said Joburg was also on the lookout for alternative sources of electricity, the Mayor of Metsimaholo, her four MMCs and other council officials briefly toured the new Council Chamber.
“Eskom’s unreliable power supply and Cape Town City’s recent court victory, which allows it to deal directly with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), have made us watch with keen interest developments in the independent power-generation arena.
“We’re also as the City of Joburg exploring ways to engage with IPPs to ensure that we have energy security so that we can achieve our target of 5% economic growth in the City.
“Our pay-off line is ‘When Joburg Works, South Africa Works’. We need to ensure energy security to realise our objective of growth,” said MMC De Jager.
The Mayor of Metsimaholo Local Municipality, Cllr Lindiwe Tshongwe, who was accompanied by Technical and Infrastructure Services, Human Settlement, Public Safety and Corporate Services MMCs, Acting Municipal Manager, council officials and a Free State Province team, admitted that her municipality was punching above its weight.
“We’re one of the smallest municipalities in the Free State and our total budget of R1 billion pales into insignificance compared to Joburg’s infrastructure R58 billion. Old infrastructure and cable theft are plaguing Metsimaholo and our power supply can’t accommodate everyone,” said Mayor Tshongwe.
So serious is the energy challenge that residents of Zamdela township are hit by power outages every weekend, leading to violent protests, the mayor disclosed.
Her entourage visited Joburg Water’s Bushkoppie Wastewater Treatment Works outside Eldorado Park yesterday to learn how waste can be used as fuel to generate electricity.
Joburg Water’s Senior Manager for Bulk Wastewater, Reggie Makoane, took the team through a highly technical presentation on how sludge is separated, cleaned and dried before being used as fuel for power generation.
“The City currently produces power, albeit on a miniscule scale, at two wastewater works. With more capital investment, more plants can join. Our biggest challenge is cable theft but we’re currently beefing up security,” said Makoane.
Metsimaholo Municipality’s Acting Director for Technical Services, Mduduzi Ndaba, said the municipality is in the process of building a R164 million wastewater treatment plant and has received a grant to explore alternative power generation.
Metsimaholo’s visit follows hot on the heels of a two-day tour by a delegation from Mookgophong/Modimolle Local Municipality in Limpopo to exchange best practices with Joburg Water recently.
The visit was facilitated by the Innovation and Knowledge Management Unit within Group Strategy, Policy Coordination and Relations Department in the City of Joburg.
