Eskom took another step forward on its turnaround plan yesterday with the formal launch of the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), the first step of a proposed splitting of Eskom into three companies, focused on generation, transmission, and distribution.
Yesterday’s launch comes three months after July 1, 2024, when the NTCSA became an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom Holdings.
The NTCSA's board was appointed in January, and the company received trading and import/export licenses in July 2024, while its transmission licenses were granted by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in July 2023. The idea to turn around Eskom by splitting into the three companies was first mooted in a government energy policy white paper in 1998, but it was never acted upon.
NTCSA chairperson Priscillah Mabelane and Interim CEO Segomoco Scheppers yesterday presented the company’s strategic vision for sustainable energy access and to support inclusive economic growth.
Key focus areas include accelerating the Transmission Development Plan to connect 30GW of renewable energy by 2029, establishing a competitive electricity market with transparent, open access for all participants, and driving operational and digital transformation for enhanced efficiency and financial sustainability.
“The NTCSA board and executive team have already committed significant time and effort to build this company…achieving independence will allow us to operate more efficiently, reduce conflicts of interest, and focus exclusively on our mandate: maintaining the stability of the transmission grid, managing electricity flows, and ensuring open access to the network for all players in the market,” Scheppers said in a statement.
The NTCSA said that following a strategic review of the corporate plan, the focus over three to six months would be to develop an accelerated Transmission Development Plan (TDP), setting the operational unbundling activities as per legislative requirements and establishing a fair, competitive market for electricity.
On the TDP, the NTCSA said a step change would be required to ensure that new generation capacity could connect to the electricity transmission grid and be able to get it to the point of demand. This would require accelerating the construction of new transmission infrastructure through effective project planning, development, and execution.
Last month, the New Development Bank said it was investigating the potential funding of the new transmission infrastructure requirements, which have been estimated to cost about $200 billion (R3.5 trillion).
The NTCSA said it was “actively investigating solutions to execute the TDP at the required scale and pace.” The NTCSA said it was currently considering a project delivery portfolio including in-house, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), Procurement and Construction (PC), and Independent Transmission Projects (ITP).
“The NTCSA is committed to local economic development and will aim to develop local supply chains and upskill the local workforce to deliver the required infrastructure rollout while still prioritising efficiency,” it said.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act (ERAA) was signed into law in August 2024 and provides for the establishment of an independent Transmission System Operator (TSO) five years after the law takes effect.
“The NTCSA will, in due course and after consultation with Eskom Holdings and the Department of Electricity and Energy (DoEE), provide a high-level roadmap with timelines to enact all requirements of the ERAA and develop transitional arrangements to be ready to give effect to the legislation.”
The Market Operator (MO) of the NTCSA would be established to provide “a transparent, non-discriminatory trading platform for market participants." The MO had developed a “Market Code”, which would establish rules to govern the future competitive electricity market, the NTCSA said.
“The NTCSA will focus on the key activities to operationalise the MO with Nersa as a key stakeholder,” the company said.
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