Energy score
Clean-energy readiness, grid resilience, and solar or efficiency opportunity signals.
Energy in Cape Town70/100
Energy
Energy Readiness in Cape Town
Cape Town has solid renewable potential and active local transition work, balanced by national grid-supply variability. Energy in Cape Town scores 70/100, placing it in the solid group of the indexed set.
- Last updated
- 2026-05-16
- Data year
- 2025
- Module score
- 70/100
Energy readiness
70/100
Solid renewable resource with grid-reliability pressure.
Primary transition lever
Solar and resilience
Distributed solar and resilience programs are the main levers.
Climate stressor
Heat and drought
Sustained heat and drought cycles shape adaptation work.
Cape Town energy data table
This HTML table mirrors the visible score cards so important comparison data is never trapped in a browser-only chart.
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Energy readiness | 70/100 | Local programs offset some national grid issues. |
| Primary transition lever | Solar and resilience | Backup systems are widely adopted. |
| Climate stressor | Heat and drought | Drought-cycle planning is central. |
Energy city comparison
A crawlable comparison across a selection of same-country and top-scoring cities. The complete set is reachable via the rankings, the cities index, and each city profile.
| City | Score | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Town (this page) | 70/100 | Cape Town has solid renewable potential and active local transition work, balanced by national grid-supply variability. |
| Johannesburg | 64/100 | Johannesburg's energy profile reflects an active national transition with rising renewable build-out and ongoing grid-resilience work. |
| Durban | 64/100 | Durban's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Stellenbosch | 62/100 | Stellenbosch's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Pretoria | 60/100 | Pretoria's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Reykjavik | 95/100 | Reykjavik's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Oslo | 95/100 | Oslo benefits from a near-fully-renewable national grid led by hydropower, supporting deep electrification of mobility and buildings. |
| Copenhagen | 94/100 | Copenhagen has a mature energy-transition profile, with district energy experience and strong climate-adaptation planning. |
| Zurich | 92/100 | Zurich operates with a low-carbon electricity baseline, strong building-efficiency standards, and continuous district-energy investment. |
| Stockholm | 92/100 | Stockholm benefits from a low-carbon national grid and a long-running district energy and biofuel transition. |
| Vancouver | 90/100 | Vancouver operates with a low-carbon electricity baseline led by hydropower, with active building and transport electrification work. |
| Seattle | 90/100 | Seattle operates with a low-carbon electricity baseline led by hydropower, with active building and transport electrification work. |
| Amsterdam | 89/100 | Amsterdam has a clear clean-energy direction with district heat, offshore wind context, and active building-efficiency policy. |
| Stavanger | 88/100 | Stavanger's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Berlin | 88/100 | Berlin has strong clean-energy direction supported by national renewable-electricity progress and city-level efficiency programs. |
| Helsinki | 88/100 | Helsinki is moving steadily through heating decarbonization with nuclear and renewable electricity supporting the wider transition. |
| Wellington | 88/100 | Wellington benefits from New Zealand's low-carbon electricity baseline with hydropower and geothermal providing most generation. |
| Vienna | 87/100 | Vienna has strong clean-energy direction supported by national hydropower, mature district-heating, and active building retrofits. |
| Bergen | 86/100 | Bergen's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Paris | 86/100 | Paris has strong energy-transition direction, with building retrofits and heat adaptation central to its readiness profile. |
| San Francisco | 86/100 | San Francisco operates with active climate policy, a comparatively low-carbon grid, and strong building-efficiency programs. |
| Auckland | 86/100 | Auckland operates with a low-carbon electricity baseline led by hydropower and geothermal generation, with active building-efficiency work. |
| Montevideo | 86/100 | Montevideo benefits from Uruguay's leading renewable-electricity share with wind and hydropower providing most generation. |
| Aarhus | 86/100 | Aarhus's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Trondheim | 85/100 | Trondheim's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Singapore | 85/100 | Singapore is energy-import dependent but progressing on renewables, regional power imports, and strong building efficiency. |
| Lucerne | 84/100 | Lucerne's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Lausanne | 84/100 | Lausanne's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Bern | 84/100 | Bern's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Frederiksberg | 84/100 | Frederiksberg's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
| Vejle | 84/100 | Vejle's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context. |
Interpretation
Energy readiness scoring weighs renewable resource, grid reliability, and adaptation. Cape Town's solar resource is strong; grid reliability is the main lever. Across the indexed cities the energy average is 64/100, so Cape Town is 6 points above the median. Data year 2025; last updated 2026-05-16. Drawn from 3 institutional references.
Read this module with the main open the cape town city profile and the read the scoring methodology page so single-topic pages do not hide tradeoffs across dimensions.
Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation. Verified datasets are being integrated; official sources should be used for critical decisions.
Sources
3 institutional references inform this view, listed below with reliability notes. Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation; verified datasets are being integrated and official sources should be used for critical decisions.
- NASA: NASA POWER
Used as an energy-resource and weather-normalization reference.
- IPCC: AR6 WGII Chapter 6: Cities, settlements and key infrastructure
Used to explain urban climate vulnerability and adaptation scoring logic.
- International Energy Agency: Empowering Urban Energy Transitions
Used to ground energy-readiness scoring in international transition guidance.
Continue exploring
These links connect module pages back to city, ranking, and sibling topic paths with crawlable href values.
Cape Town city profile
Return to the complete Cape Town profile with all module scores and source context.
Cost of Living in Cape Town
Affordability, essential costs, and day-to-day financial pressure for residents.
Air Quality in Cape Town
Health-oriented air-quality conditions with context from WHO, EEA, and EPA benchmarks.
Safety in Cape Town
Personal safety, institutional trust, and resilience signals informed by international safety and crime data.
Internet Speed in Cape Town
Broadband and mobile connectivity quality, latency, and digital-readiness signals for residents and remote workers.
Climate Risk in Cape Town
Climate exposure, hazard frequency, and adaptation context for floods, heat, storms, and wildfires.
Overall Intelligence
A balanced ranking of cities across affordability, air quality, clean-energy readiness, and resilience.
Quality of Life
Cities that combine strong services, mobility, safety, clean air, and resilience into a healthy day-to-day profile.