The town of Orania in the Northern Cape is famous for being a self-determined community. Oraniers believe that being energy independent is a big part of the self-determination process. It is a fast-growing community and business is booming according to Joost Strydom from the Orania Movement.
Orania has recently completed the 1st phase of the solar farm with phases 2 and 3 to follow. The building of the solar farm is not something in reaction to load shedding and has been on the Orania development strategy for a while.
The solar farm now generates 30% of the town’s electricity and resource needs. Still on the grid for the time being the aim is to generate electricity from 6 am to 10 pm every day.
Power goes through normal municipal channels and Orania will also be registering with the national energy regulator in order to put more power into the grid which will enable Orania to sell extra electricity to other communities as the storage capacity increases.
It is expected to cost R13 million to complete the project. Orania residents and supporters are raising funds to make the project a success. No funding comes from the state.
Watch the full interview on SABC News.
Pic source: https://twitter.com/OraniaHomeland
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