Cape Town lies on the southwest coast of South Africa under the shadow of Table Mountain. The mountain has shaped the development of the city’s road and rail networks, while its status as a biodiversity hotspot has restricted where houses can be built – nature reserves cover over 40% of the municipal area. From the 1950s, the urban form was increasingly shaped by Apartheid’s discriminatory laws and forced removals, whereby Black and Colored South Africans were moved to townships on the edge of the city. This legacy has resulted in a divided city, with affluent suburbs juxtaposed against poor townships on the low-lying Cape Flats, which include areas that naturally fill with water (or ‘vleis’) during the rainy winter months. Cape Town’s unique environmental context makes it particularly vulnerable to certain natural risks, which are heightened by climate change. Over the next 30 years, the greatest climate-related risks for Cape Town will be from: increased frequency of multi-year drought, increased wildfire incidents, heatwaves, flooding and gale-force winds.
Cape Town’s Urban Power Profile provides an overview of the city’s power system context and challenges, key shocks and stresses impacting energy resilience and case studies on energy resilience projects including an innovative alternative public lighting project and maypole electrification in informal settlements.
With support from the Rockefeller Foundation via the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and S&P Global Foundation, Urban Power is building assessment and project development tools and working with cities to develop energy projects that help them achieve a green and just energy transition, reach their net-zero ambitions, and deliver multiple resilience co-benefits.