High voltage electricity transmission towers in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. South Africa's electricity minister said he expects to seal a deal with the Chinese government next week that will help solar-power installers in the African nation secure access to panels for projects needed to tackle its energy crisis. “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
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.