South African Transmission Financing Seminar Discusses Funding Pathways for Transmission Infrastructure Development

Johannesburg, 22 September 2023

The South African Transmission Financing Seminar, co-hosted by the Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 21 September 2023, brought together experts and stakeholders from the energy and financial sectors to discuss funding pathways for transmission infrastructure development.

The development and expansion of South Africa’s electricity transmission infrastructure is critical to enable diverse energy generating sources – which are geographically located in various parts of the country – to contribute to the country’s electricity grid.

In his opening remarks, Minister Ramokgopa outlined South Africa’s current transmission status quo and the transmission expansion plan, highlighting the key challenges facing transmission, including the financing and funding gap required to fulfill transmission infrastructure development.

“An estimated amount upwards of R 250 billion is required to fund the expansion of South Africa’s grid,” he said.

The discussions at the seminar were framed in four focus areas:

• Synergising private sector and government collaboration
• The options and size of available financial resources
• International insights to build local resilience, capacity and expertise
• Balancing the country’s long-term socio-economic interests while balancing sustainability obligations and international commitments to climate change and decarbonisation.

The seminar participants were able to share insights on how peer countries with similar challenges have been able to resolve their electricity problems and the possible ways to finance grid expansion in South Africa.

Minister Ramokgopa described the seminar as useful, saying, “The conversations were able to provide insights of how peer countries which had our similar challenges were able to resolve their electricity problems and the possible ways to finance grid expansion.”

The South African Transmission Financing Seminar is a significant step in addressing the challenges of financing transmission infrastructure development in South Africa. The insights and recommendations from the seminar will be used to develop a roadmap to mobilize the necessary funding to ensure that South Africa’s electricity transmission infrastructure is modernized and expanded to meet the needs of the growing economy and to support the transition to a clean energy future.