The Western Cape town of Riversdale is set to become the first town in South Africa to run fully on its own power. This would allow it to cut its connection to the Eskom grid.
The town spent roughly R200 million on an 11.2MW solar power plant. The plant can produce nearly double the electricity the town needs at its peak, MyBroadband reported.
“The municipality of Riversdale itself only uses about 4MW of energy on average and then peaks at about 6MW. It actually has almost double the capacity that it needs,” Alwie Lester told Cape Talk.
Lester is a special advisor on energy to Western Cape Premier Alan Winde. He said the new solar capacity is connected to the municipal network.
According to Lester, the solar farm can produce about 11.2MW of DC power. It also has two batteries that each store 5 megawatt-hours.
He said the municipality invested more than R200 million in total. This covered the solar panels, a SCADA control and data system, and an eight-year operating period.
“We’ve modelled out the numbers for this plant, and in about 6 years, the cost of this plant will be recovered,” Lester said.
The solar system supplies power at around R2.80 per kWh, which saves residents money. Lester said the municipality paid about R3 per kWh for power bought from Eskom.
By comparison, customers on Eskom’s common Homepower 4 direct tariff pay R3.56 per kWh, the report said.
Lester said owning its own power plant helped the municipality keep its local electricity tariff increase to 7% for the current financial year.
Riversdale has about 22,000 residents living across roughly 100 square kilometres. The town depends mostly on tourism to survive.
Visitors come for hiking, bird-watching and horse-riding. Many tourists want a reliable power supply, so load-shedding and other power cuts caused problems for the town.
The town sits in the foothills of Sleeping Beauty Peak, part of the Langeberg mountain range. It was founded in 1838 and became a municipality in 1849.
It is named after Harry Rivers, its first Commissioner and Magistrate. The community started on a farm called Doornkraal on the banks of the Vette River.
Riversdale has several historical sites. These include an old town jail that is now a coffee shop, and the Old Toll House, built in 1910.
The town also holds the second-largest collection of Thomas Bowler paintings in the country. It has the only museum of Ukrainian culture in South Africa.
In February 2026, Premier Winde announced in his State of the Province Address that Riversdale would become the first small town fully independent from Eskom.
“The Hessequa Municipality is an example. The council took incredible initiative in successfully bidding for a solar PV and battery storage project,” Winde said.
Winde said the project received a first allocation of R173 million. He said it would soon be worth every penny for the municipality’s residents.
“I will help flick the switch on this project, which will essentially see the town of Riversdale become independent of Eskom for its growing power needs and the first in South Africa to do so,” Winde said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.