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At least 11 public hospitals in Gauteng will benefit from a rooftop solar power project, which aims to ease the burden on the national electricity grid.
Gauteng Finance and e-Government MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko made the announcement when she tabled her budget vote speech for the 2022/23 financial year on Tuesday.
She said this project was one of the major initiatives of the provincial government’s integrated green energy strategy.
“The project is one of the initiatives of the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency (GIFA), which is a government component of the provincial treasury.” Nkomo-Ralehoko said:
The public healthcare facilities to benefit from this project are the George Mukhari Hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, as well as Laudium, Mamelodi, Tembisa, Yusuf Dadoo, Carletonville, Tshwane, Heidelberg, Edenvale and Steve Biko hospitals.
“This development represents a significant milestone and will enable construction to start on this important initiative, which entails installing solar panels on rooftops of the hospitals to meet each facility’s electricity consumption. The successful financing and implementation this year will lead to these hospitals harnessing close to 10MW of their own electricity power, thus alleviating the burden on the national grid,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
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She added her department would also support the objectives of Gauteng’s integrated green energy strategy. As a result, an agreement will be signed soon between the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the private party, which will result in SANSA acquiring operating space as the anchor tenant at the Innovation Hub’s Enterprise Building 3. Nkomo-Ralehoko said:
“In line with the provincial government’s commitment to supporting the revival and reinvention of the western corridors, GIFA has completed a feasibility study and business case of the Sedibeng Fresh Produce market.”
Nkomo-Ralehoko explained her department had set aside R63 million to fund GIFA’s operations for the current financial year.
“So far, 74% of the R157 million allocated to the project preparation facility has been committed. This money has funded over 20 feasibility studies of infrastructure projects that have been sourced from provincial departments and municipalities in the past six years.”
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