PORT ELIZABETH - NELSON MANDELA BAY MUNICIPALITY TO JOIN EARTH HOUR BY SWITCHING TO SOLAR POWER

As part of observing Earth Hour, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has switched on the Solar Power installation at the municipal electricity department in Port Elizabeth.

Earth Hour is a global movement aimed at encouraging people to take a stand against climate change. The municipality also plans to plant 200 trees called spekboom  which has the potential to absorb the excess CO2 responsible for climate change.

Every year, on the last Saturday of March people are encouraged to switch their lights off for an hour from 8:30pm to 9:30pm, as a symbolic gesture of unity to reflect our impact on the planet. This day is observed all around the world.

Acting Senior Director of the Electricity and Energy Directorate, Bernhadt Lamour,says the municipality has plans to help ease the load on the national grid. He says they have installed off grid PV panels at the metro's informal settlements.

"We've already installed two thousands of these units. We are awaiting funding from the Department of Energy so we can roll out to all our informal settlements. Those are the poorest of the poor, that use in a way illegal electricity which is very dangerous to themselves and a well to the children and also it causes a major problems on our power network so we're installing those in order to give a little bit of free basic electricity."

The municipality has encouraged the residents to actively participate by switching off their lights for 60 minutes. In 2016, 178 countries participated in Earth Hour with the lights on over 400 landmarks being switched-off.

VIA - sabc