National and Local Policy Context

Nationally, energy resources have been abundant and relatively cheap compared to the rest of the world1 for much of the 20th and early 21st century. This is primarily because South Africa’s energy is derived from coal which is cheaply mined out of the earth. This has lead to a culture of inefficient energy usage in all sectors of South Africa, including the public sector. More recently, this situation has started to change and the country has experienced a major shift in the way energy resources are viewed. This is due to a number of reasons, namely:

1. National electricity supply is constrained leading to rolling blackouts ‘load shedding’ in 2008 and could lead to further load shedding the future.
2. Year on year increase in electricity prices to finance the building of power stations that is set to increase the electricity supply.
3. National Government’s commitment to reduce the national level greenhouse gases (GHGs). There has been growing international concern regarding the emission of GHGs are released as a result of the burning of fossil fuels to satisfy the country’s energy demands.

The above has prompted National Government to publish a number of guiding documents where energy efficiency has been prioritised as a short to medium term intervention to address these problems. Two important documents promoting these ideas were published in the last decade, namely the Energy Efficiency Strategy (2005) and the Long Term Mitigation Scenarios (2009).

Our local city council, the eThekwini Municipality, also recognizes the importance of energy efficiency, with the eThekwini Energy Strategy (2009) defining a key action plan as “Promoting and Enabling Energy Efficiency in the Public Sector”. The eThekwini Energy Office has therefore begun to implement various energy efficiency technologies and strategies that can be adopted public infrastructure across the city.

Background

Funding for energy savings the project are available through ESKOM for the Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management program. Due to significant financial constraints experienced by Eskom, it has been necessary to place the Standard Offer, Standard Product and ESCo Model on hold until further notice for a full review.

Projects submitted for funding through the Standard Offer rebate program are being evaluated on the basis of funding levels and program parameters which were applicable up to 30 September 2013 – customers and project developers will be informed in due course whether their projects have been approved for funding.

Projects submitted for funding through the Standard Product rebate program are being evaluated on the basis of funding levels and program parameters which were applicable up to 11 October 2013.

Projects submitted for funding through the ESCo Model but which have not reached contract finalization stage, have also been placed on hold. These projects will be given priority as and when additional funding becomes available.

Project Implementation

The interventions will be cross cutting it involve all DUT campuses and residences, while a certain level of collaboration and cooperation will be needed. All DUT departments/units and residences will be involved in the rollout of the project, which will focus on three aspects namely, hot water and air conditioning systems, lighting intervention and power factor correction improvement.