A unique electrification project which seeks to light up the lives of thousands of informal setters in the City of Cape Town is up for two awards at the 15^th annual African Utility Week & Clean Power Africa conference to be held on 12-14 May 2015.

The Backyard Electrification project which is being lead by engineering consultancy firm, GIBB will be up for the African Community Project of the Year and Collaboration of the Year, and will be presented by GIBB Junior Associate and Electrical Engineer, Phillip Jacobs.

“This is a first of its kind in Cape Town and presented a set of unique challenges and required unconventional design solutions to ensure successful implementation,” explains Jacobs. “We are excited about the conference and hope that it will spark an exponential level of difference in not only this city but the country as a whole.”

At its core, the project involved the installation of electricity service connections to the informal backyard dwellings on the City owned properties and the replacement of backbone electricity distribution infrastructure.

The Factreton Pilot Project

As this was collaboration with the City of Cape Town, GIBB’s responsibilities lay in project management, which included fulltime site supervision, during the construction phase of the first phase of the Factreton pilot project which comprised replacing the existing overhead LV reticulation with an underground network.

Following the successful completion of the Factreton pilot project, the programme was extended to the Hanover Park residential area and GIBB was again appointed as the electrical consulting engineer.

During African Utility Week, a site visit to the Factreton pilot project will be undertaken so attendees can witness first-hand the electrifying impact of the project.

Adding to this, the full electrical installation comprising miniature substation, ground mounted distribution kiosk, the pole mounted distribution box, overhead service connection and the ready board installed inside the end user’s backyard dwelling will also be on show.

The backyarder electrification project will alleviate the plight of people living in informal dwellings in the back yards of established formal housing developments. “These people, some of whom have been living with this informal arrangement for over 50 years are known as Backyarders, hence the name of the project,” says Jacobs.