Thanks to a new initiative between the company Think WiFi and the non-profit GreenCape, the residents of Witsand, Atlantis will soon have access to solar street lights, thanks to WiFi.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the two organisations to deliver the first WiFi-enabled solar street lights to this neighbourhood.
According to GreenCape, traditional models for off-grid electrification have struggled to be replicated in South Africa. The Alternative Service Delivery Unit (ASDU) has been established by GreenCape to design, facilitate and manage the provision of energy services to unserviced and unserviceable communities like Witsand.
The partnership with Think WiFi originated after ASDU enumerated more than 2 500 households in the Witsand informal settlement.
The focus was on creating a strong social foundation for service delivery, building an inclusive platform for local community members to express infrastructure preferences and to understand the communities’ propensity to pay for infrastructure services.
From this process, the Witsand community prioritised area lighting and connectivity as their most pressing energy-related needs.
“ASDU is driving the rapid provision of reliable, affordable and safe energy innovations to address basic needs, drive social development and create jobs,” said James Vos, City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, who was at the signing of the MoU at GreenCape.
Janine Rebelo, CEO of Think WiFi, said the company was eager to help solve tangible problems within the community. She said: “We are excited to partner with GreenCape, to help solve some of the connectivity and lighting challenges in the areas we operate in. To date, we have deployed more than 50 of the solar lights around our WiFi hot spots, and will continue to roll this project out in existing areas as well as install more lights in new areas, like Witsand.
“These solar lights, or lollipops as they are called, not only provide area lighting, they also enhance safety and security in the surrounding area. We found combining lighting lollipops with WiFi greatly improves conditions in an area, and has created a demand for these services, especially with the current load shedding challenges in South Africa.
“We have also seen micro-business start to evolve around these Think light stations, which enable them to stay open after hours, furthering our vision to create local economic empowerment opportunities in the communities we serve.”
The MoU outlines that there will be continued collaboration on new sites to explore the overlap of energy services and connectivity, in this case the provision of public WiFi infrastructure.
Over the last three years, GreenCape has launched and funded three ASDU sites, with interventions ranging from WiFi-enabled solar street lights to home solar systems and microgrids, covering about 6 000 homes and 16 800 people.
