The municipality has been solely reliant on Eskom for energy which has far reaching financial and service delivery implications.
Municipal Manager Theo Van Vuuren, who signed the agreement with PowerX, said the municipality has been exploring the greening option as a back-up and to supplement power needs of the municipality.
On their website a brief history takes you through the ranks.
“Shortly after National Government announced its ambitious targets for Renewable Energy in South Africa, the then Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) now Department of Energy (DOE) approved a pilot project with ‘Amatola’ to demonstrate the existence of a market for green power trading in South Africa. ‘Amatola’ secured Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with generators of green power as well as off take agreements with customers and traded successfully under the conditions of the pilot model,” the background read.