For years, South Africa’s electricity crisis was framed as a generation problem. Today, the country’s biggest bottleneck sits elsewhere. The government has identified transmission infrastructure as the next major obstacle to unlocking new electricity capacity, and it is now inviting private investors to help solve it.
Speaking ahead of African Energy Week 2026, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is expected to outline plans for a transmission build programme worth roughly R400 billion. The scale is enormous. South Africa needs approximately 14,000 kilometres of new transmission lines and more than 100 substations by 2030.
Without them, renewable energy projects cannot connect to the grid regardless of how much generation capacity is available. Government estimates suggest more than 130GW of projects remain constrained by grid limitations and offtake challenges.
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Recognising that Eskom cannot finance the expansion alone, the state has introduced the Independent Transmission Projects programme. For the first time, private capital will play a direct role in building major transmission infrastructure. Seven international-led consortiums have already been shortlisted for the first phase, covering more than 1,100 kilometres of transmission lines.
The shift reflects a broader transformation underway in South Africa’s electricity market. The debate has moved beyond ending loadshedding. The focus now is creating the infrastructure needed to support a more competitive and diversified power sector. The question is no longer whether South Africa can generate enough electricity. Increasingly, the question is whether it can move that electricity to where it is needed.
By Thuita Gatero, Managing Editor, Africa Digest News.
