Update

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The Giant Flag Electricity Providing project is on the roll.

Giant Flag and sustainable electricity supplier PowerX, met with the Business Chamber and other economic investors and role players on Wednesday 23 October.

PowerX Giant Flag, which was launched in 2014, are now working together to provide Graaff-Reinet with sustainable electricity in the near future.

Jimmy Joubert, Trustee and General Manager of Giant Flag, told the Business Chamber that they had a good meeting the same morning with the municipality and political leaders.

He made it clear that the Giant Flag project is on track for the town. It generates electricity in phases, from one megawatt to five megawatts and then 15 if everything goes well. According to Joubert, one megawatt can provide electricity to approximately 720 households.

"We already have businesses and households booked to buy electricity from us, when the project is up and running," Joubert said.

Buying the electricity will work on the same basis as the system electricity users are using now. PowerX buys the electricity from The Giant Flag project. The municipality participates in taking care of the local grid and diverting the electricity to customers.

Light delighted with alternative for lights

Head of the local economic organisation, the Graaff-Reinet Economic and Development Forum, Derek Light, expressed his delight with the Giant Flag Project. "This is very good news," he said.

Light told the Advertiser that the project is a green energy project, from where you can buy sustainable electricity directly. "The Giant Flag electricity project will add capacity to the town's electricity infrastructure."

Light said it will empower people, create jobs and will be a source of energy that will see that locals are not solely dependent on Eskom.

The Chairperson of the Business Chamber, Hento Davids, said The Giant Flag will be an extra branding for Graaff-Reinet.

According to Joubert, if all goes to plan, the first electricity can already be sold to residents and businesses in town, between March and June 2020.

The Giant Flag is made up of coloured desert plants and a solar field, on a previously barren tract of land. Visible from space and the size of 66 soccer fields, the Giant Flag will not only claim its place as a natural wonder, but also as a new model of economic stimulus for previously disadvantaged communities.

Read a related article: Giant flag project back on track

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