Cabinet has asked that more work be done on the financing plan for the expansion of the transmission lines. File Picture: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has agreed with Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa that the special Cabinet meeting has sent back the financing plan for the expansion of the grid for more work to be done on it.
Ntshavheni said Cabinet looked at the plan when it was presented but felt that more work still needed to be done around it.
Government wants to expand transmission lines by 14,000km in the next 10 years.
This would enable more renewable energy projects to be connected to the grid.
National Treasury said on Monday that there was a pipeline of 66 GW of renewable energy projects.
Ramokgopa said a few weeks ago they would need about R390 billion to finance the transmission expansion project.
However, the Eskom balance sheet would not be able to finance it, and government has asked the private sector to invest in the project.
Ntshavheni said there was no final decision on the financing plan for the expansion of transmission lines until Ramokgopa and his team had finalised their outstanding work.
“It was discussed, but there is more work to be done. Without transmission lines in place, most of the renewable projects won’t be on the grid,” said Ntshavheni.
Ramokgopa stated the same issues over the weekend and added that he will go back to the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) to do more work on the financing plan.
But the government would need to start moving with speed to expand transmission lines to accommodate renewable projects on the grid before it is too late.
This work will have to start urgently, said Ramokgopa.
“In relation to the issues around the transmission area, we have been asked to go back. There are a number of areas that require attention. We have been asked to focus on the numbers in relation to some of the governance structures we are proposing to put in place.
“I can’t share that in public as I need to go back as Cabinet has requested to say: show us these numbers in relation to how we are going to finance this governance framework. Cabinet accepted it as a thoroughgoing report that was presented to them. It responds to the current crisis,” said Ramokgopa.
“It responds to the issues of agility, speed, and the need for us to tap into the liquidity that is sitting with the private sector. I think the overall thrust has been accepted, and I will go back to Necom with those areas of enhancement for it to be approved and Cabinet endorses it,” said Ramokgopa.
He has said that once the transmission lines were expanded, it would be easy to connect most of the renewable projects to the grid.
Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe has said they need to expand the grid in the coastal regions of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Northern Cape, where there is a lack of grid capacity.
Most of the transmission lines were concentrated in Mpumalanga, where there were coal mines.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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