The City of Tshwane is incorporating solar energy and energy-efficient designs into social housing to help reduce electricity costs and improve resilience to power cuts.

The City of Tshwane is starting to include solar energy and energy-saving designs in new social housing projects. This is part of the City’s Climate Action Plan to create a sustainable and reliable energy future, while also helping residents save on electricity costs and cope better with power cuts.

The Chantelle Social Housing Project is one example. It aims to provide affordable rental homes for people with low to middle incomes. The project is led by the City, together with Housing Company Tshwane and the Social Housing Regulatory Authority. In this project, there are plans to include solar energy solutions to help make electricity more affordable and improve resilience during outages.

Some communities are exploring the use of solar energy in low-income areas to reduce reliance on grid electricity and help manage rising energy costs. Community-based solar projects, including small-scale embedded generation (SSEG), may also improve energy access and resilience during power cuts.

For these projects to succeed, municipalities need supportive policies and funding mechanisms, as the upfront cost of solar systems can still be too high for many households.

For example, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance in eThekwini is exploring community SSEG initiatives to help residents manage high electricity costs.