Institutional misalignment between Eskom, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), municipalities and regulators is becoming a growing risk to South Africa’s transmission rollout, panellists warned during a recent industry webinar.
The issue was raised during Creamer Media’s Investing in South Africa’s Electricity Transmission Grid webinar on February 3 where discussion shifted from policy intent to the practical challenges of execution.
According to Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa CEO Tafadzwa Chibanguza, South Africa’s challenge is no longer the absence of policy tools but weak coordination between institutions.
“What is missing is co-ordination. You have multiple good policy instruments being developed but they are not co-ordinated. That is a reform that needs to be considered,” Chibanguza said.
Fragmented procurement frameworks, particularly during the transition to the Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024, are slowing project execution and undermining localisation objectives for transmission infrastructure, added Chibanguza.
Andrew Etzinger, General Manager For Energy Market Services at the NTCSA, acknowledged that Eskom’s unbundling has introduced additional complexity into transmission planning and investment.
Etzinger warned that uncertainty about asset ownership, funding responsibilities and decision-making authority could discourage private capital if the end-state market design is not clearly articulated.
“There could be an interim solution but we need to make sure that the end state is clearly articulated and remains the goal,” Etzinger said.
Speaking from a generation procurement perspective, Independent Power Producers Office Head in the Department of Electricity and Energy, Precious Edward, highlighted misalignment between grid planning and renewable energy bid windows.
“We need to align generation procurement with transmission planning. It is a critical consideration in the implementation of the Integrated Resource Plan,” Edward said.
Private-sector participants also described commercial impacts linked to grid timelines. Andre Nepgen, CEO of Discovery Green, argued that grid connection timelines extending to 2030 undermine project bankability and delay corporate decarbonisation plans.
Panellists indicated that, despite strong technical capability and investor interest, transmission expansion will remain constrained unless planning, approvals and investment frameworks across Eskom, the NTCSA, municipalities and regulators become more closely aligned.
