Good news for engineers in South Africa

Private engineering firms are set to benefit big-time from the drastic changes and expansion of South Africa’s electricity transmission network in the coming years.

That is according to National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) interim CEO Segomoco Scheppers.

The NTSCA is the first division of the Eskom group that was spun off into its own entity as part of the power utility’s unbundling process.

Its independent operation is intended to ensure fair treatment of an increasing number of private power generators and distributors that will produce and sell electricity in South Africa as the electricity industry transitions away from Eskom’s monopoly.

Speaking at the unveiling of the NTSCA’s transmission development plan (TDP), Scheppers explained that Eskom would need private companies to help build the vast network of new transmission lines coming online over the next decade.

The NTSCA has estimated that South Africa’s total electricity generating capacity will increase from around 66,000MW in 2024 to 107,000MW by 2034.

Roughly 14,000MW of coal power should be decommissioned in the next decade, while an additional 56,000MW of alternative power stations will come online, providing a net difference of 41,000MW.

To put this into perspective, Eskom’s current total generating capacity — of which only about 60% is regularly available — is roughly 49,000MW.

To facilitate the expansion, South Africa must build about 14,500km of new high-voltage transmission lines in 10 years. These will add to the current 33,328km constructed over more than half a century.

The infrastructure will also require an additional 133,000MVA of transformer capacity, about 85% of the current total of 159,995MVA.

Geographical shift in generation capacity will require more complex work

The rollout will be more complex because many of the new lines will require more technically advanced transmission equipment.

As it stands, many of the country’s biggest power stations are located much closer to major hubs with the highest amount of electricity demand.

Mpumalanga houses 12 of the country’s 18 coal power stations, which supply over 80% of South Africa’s electricity.

The province is rich in coal deposits and is ideally located between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, with the biggest populations and electricity demands.

The third most populated province — the Western Cape — gets half of its power from the Koeberg nuclear power station located just outside Cape Town, with the remainder coming from a mix of coal and renewables.

In addition to shorter transmission distances, resulting in less energy loss, the stations connected via this infrastructure provide more consistent generation than solar and wind power, which will account for the vast majority of new capacity.

Due to higher annual sunshine and wind levels, utility-scale wind and solar plants should ideally be built in the three Cape provinces — much further away from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

As it stands, roughly 78% of electricity generation capacity is in the north of the country, in line with the roughly 77% demand in the same region.

In 2034, only 53% of the generation will be in the north of the country, while demand in the region is expected to be roughly the same.

The south’s generation capacity is anticipated to contribute 47% of the total supply by 2034, up from 23% in 2024.

The infographics below illustrate how Eskom anticipates the concentrations of electricity demand and supply in South Africa to shift in a decade’s time.

Bringing in private players

The new lines will require additional equipment to account for greater energy losses over long distances and compensate for the volatility of renewable energy generation.

That additional infrastructure will require significant expertise and manpower that is beyond the state’s capacity.

Therefore, the NTSCA is appointing private firms to engineer, procure, construct, and operate the new lines.

In some cases, companies may operate the transmission lines for a certain period before being handed over to the NTSCA.

Based on the nature of the work, both civil and electrical engineers will be in demand.

The NTSCA has already signed long-term agreements with 19 local engineering companies to accelerate the expansion of the transmission network.

The company has budgeted R112 billion for the transmission expansion over the next five years.

It has also launched a development programme to train contractors in building high-voltage lines. Two firms have already completed the programme.