Power to the IPPs: Private sector stepping up in securing Western Cape’s energy future

Independent power producers (IPPs) have been instrumental in adding more megawatts to South Africa and the Western Cape’s power grids, contributing to collaborative efforts to overcome the country’s crippling energy crisis.

On Tuesday, 27 May 2025, Premier Alan Winde hosted Matteo Brambilla, Chief Executive Officer at pioneering Western Cape-based energy company, Red Rocket, at his energy digicon.

The Premier took his digicon “on the road,” visiting the company’s head offices in Cape Town. A highlight of the digicon was Red Rocket’s “Command Centre”, consisting of a state-of-the-art dashboard that monitors the energy being generated across the company's renewable power projects, from the Western Cape all the way to Uganda, in real time.

This year, Red Rocket marks five years since its establishment. “Our company is now the third largest independent power producer (IPP) in the country,” said Mr Brambilla, an indication of the growing importance of private sector companies in the energy space. He added, “Our company has seen tremendous growth, and with that, the mission to advance our country’s energy transition and embrace the power of green energy.  The next five years in our journey present an opportunity to further support South Africa’s energy needs.”

“This is the aim of the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme: to enable and empower the private sector and municipalities to generate a reliable and affordable supply of energy for our residents and economy,” said Premier Winde.

Mr Brambilla said, “There has been remarkable progress over the past 5 years. Our energy portfolio now boasts almost 4GW of projects in operation, under construction, awarded preferred bidder status, moving towards financial closure, and commencing construction. We have reached financial close and started construction on projects which include the Witberg Wind Farm, Virginia Solar Park, and Overberg Wind Farm. We are proud to continue making a positive social impact in our communities, a mission aligning with our core values of care, create, and collaborate. Through this, we will continue to boost the economy while enabling thousands of employment opportunities.”

Premier Winde concluded, “We want to ensure that any energy that comes into the province’s power system is sustainable, affordable and more environmentally friendly. I commend Red rocket, and all IPPs who are working with us in achieving this goal.”

To watch a recording of the digicon, visit: https://youtu.be/wiw25igNmN0?si=RrUyPPd-52bi970v

Integrated Energy and Water Council 

Ahead of the digicon, there was a meeting of the Western Cape Government’s Integrated Energy and Water Council.

During the meeting, Premier Winde reiterated that the provincial government and relevant stakeholders cannot lose momentum in implementing the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme, which seeks primarily to enable the development of 5,700MW of non-Eskom power for the province and its residents by 2035. “Energy and water security are a critical prerequisite for economic growth and job creation,” he emphasised.

In his presentation to the council, Alwie Lester, Special Advisor to the Premier on Energy, pointed out that in the 2024/25 financial year, 1,000MW of non-Eskom energy was tapped into the provincial power grid. The bulk of this was through small-scale embedded generation (SSEG), along with four private electricity wheeling projects that amounted to over 400MW. “We expect to achieve a further 1,000MW of energy over the current financial year, made up predominantly of municipal generation and private sector, business-to-business electricity wheeling. We are well ahead of our 2035 target,” he continued.

Many Western Cape municipalities are showing a keen interest in energy generation. The following local governments are making good progress with getting their respective projects to the market:

• City of Cape Town - 200MW 
• Saldanha - 100MW 
• Stellenbosch - 50MW
• Mossel Bay - 30MW

The Premier noted, “It is very clear that the private sector and many of our municipalities are stepping up, contributing massively to our overall energy resilience efforts, and in turn helping to stave off higher stages of load-shedding.”

But the council was warned that despite the sporadic respite from load-shedding, the reliability of Eskom's energy supply remains uncertain. Mr Lester raised concerns over the energy availability factor (EAF), which has stood at 58.13% in recent weeks. This is somewhat concerning given that the EAF average for 2024 was 59.78, compared with the average of 57% in 2025 so far.

The council received an update on the progress made in finalising the Western Cape Water Resilience strategy. The strategy aims to future-proof the province by ensuring its water security and equitable access to the resource for all residents.

The strategy prioritises the maintenance and development of bulk water infrastructure. Total water resilience grant allocations to Western Cape municipalities since the 2017/18 financial year amount to R249 501 000. A project pipeline of catalytic projects to the value of R47 billion, covering 367 projects, has been identified. These projects vary from concept to feasibility phase, across the Western Cape.

During the meeting, the Premier expressed concern over the recent water outages in large parts of Knysna, stating, “This is the consequence of a collapse of governance due to maladministration and ineptitude. As a government, we are investing heavily in maintaining and upgrading water infrastructure. I expect our municipalities to do the same. At the local government level, we need effective management, especially over critical services for our residents.”