---
title: "South Africa Could Host Transmission Investment Auctions, Official Says"
description: "The head of a South African government office that runs auction rounds for the provision of renewable energy to the state said it’s feasible to set up a similar agency to encourage private investment in transmission."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-13-south-africa-could-host-transmission-investment-auctions-official-says/"
published: "2024-06-13T19:12:46"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 212
---

# South Africa Could Host Transmission Investment Auctions, Official Says

> The head of a South African government office that runs auction rounds for the provision of renewable energy to the state said it’s feasible to set up a similar agency to encourage private investment in transmission.

By Bloomberg · Published 13 June 2024, 21:12 SAST

## Content

South Africa’s lack of transmission capacity has hindered the development of power plants as they can’t get the energy they produce to consumers. That’s exacerbated a long-running energy shortage.

“It’s not going to be a cut and paste into the transmission space,” said Tshifhiwa Bernard Magoro, head of the Independent Power Producers Office, adding that different companies with the requisite skills would need to be encouraged to bid. “The message is that it’s possible,” he said at a conference in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The government may need to set up a transmission office to encourage private investment, Mmakgoshi Lekhethe, head of asset and liability management at the National Treasury, said at the event.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa, which hosted the conference, said last month that it was in talks with government departments to establish such an office.

[Read: S. African State Bank Is Working on Transmission Auction Office](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-24/s-african-state-bank-is-working-on-transmission-auction-office)

Magoro’s office has held auctions that have seen more than 200 billion rand ($10.9 billion) invested in South African power generation. Still, those auctions came with government guarantees that the Treasury wants to bring to an end.

Lekhethe said the Treasury is in talks with the World Bank and African Development Bank over developing credit guarantees and insurance for clean energy projects.