How Cape Town tailors energy solutions to its communities

Mary Haw spoke to ESI Africa about the importance of engaging with communities to ensure energy solutions truly meet their needs

The City of Cape Town serves a range of diverse communities, each with unique energy needs. Understanding these differences and tailoring technological solutions accordingly  is key to achieving inclusive energy access.

This is according to Mary Haw, Manager for Sustainable Energy and Renewable Facilitation at the City of Cape Town, who spoke to ESI Africa about the importance of engaging with communities to ensure energy solutions truly meet their needs.

“On the low-income customer side, what’s a big challenge in some of the things that we’ve learnt is that we can’t just assume we know what those communities need. So going in there and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a solar panel system for you,’ is maybe not the right solution. 

“We have to go in and understand what their needs are. What are they using for cooking? What are they using for lighting? What do they need? And how do we work together to design a solution?” she said. 

Haw said the City is implementing innovative public lighting projects within various communities and they have encountered some very specific challenges. “We think we know what they want, they think they know what they want, and somehow we have to come to a partnership,” she said.

Cover photo:  pierricklemaret©123rf