Structural load-shedding has effectively been eradicated with Eskom gearing to improve its energy availability factor (EAF) to more than 70% by the end of the financial year, electricity & energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said in parliament on Thursday.
In the year ending April, the annualised EAF bridged the 60% mark. The EAF is the amount of energy generated as a percentage of installed capacity.
The recent return of Medupi unit four to service will add 800MW to the grid, contributing to the stability of generation supply.
In his budget vote speech in the National Assembly Ramokgopa announced that in the year ahead new rounds under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, the Battery Energy Storage Programme and the Gas-to-Power programme would be issued.
“These will incorporate stronger localisation obligations, clearer project timelines and enhanced oversight mechanisms to ensure implementation discipline,” the minister said.
A request for qualification from the private sector for the independent transmission projects procurement programme would be issued by end-July with the request for proposal scheduled for November.
The aim of the programme is to build more than 14,000km of new transmission lines by 2032 to facilitate the integration of independent power producers on to the grid. In April the energy & electricity department published draft regulations to support the entry of private capital through the programme.
The department has reviewed its electrification approach and initiated a comprehensive universal access strategy, the minister said. Over the medium-term expenditure framework, the government has committed just more than R13bn for electrification in a bid to achieve universal access by 2030.
Blended financing
“The scale of the financial requirement to achieve universal access by 2030 exceeds what the fiscus alone can carry. The department is therefore working with the National Treasury and our development finance partners to design a new blended financing approach.
“The goal is to use the R13bn allocation to unlock additional capital through the debt markets and concessional funding windows. By using public funds to derisk private investment, we are creating an infrastructure finance facility that will allow us to front-load the capital needed to accelerate rollout,” Ramokgopa said.
To ensure electricity affordability the department has embarked on a comprehensive review of its energy pricing policy. The minister said the revised framework would propose a differentiated pricing structure that protected vulnerable households, while also supporting large power users with internationally competitive tariffs for electricity-intensive, locally beneficiated exports.
Ramokgopa warned that the threatened gas cliff required urgent intervention. The cliff refers to a supply shortfall arising from the imminent depletion of domestic gas reserves, declining imports via the Rompco pipeline from Pande and Temane fields in Mozambique to Secunda, Mpumalanga and delayed infrastructure investments.
A reliable, dispatchable baseload of gas was essential for a functioning power system, he said.
Three interventions would be prioritised in the 2025/26 financial year: a gas master plan and implementation framework would be completed; the procurement and development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import infrastructure would be fast-tracked; and long-term and competitively priced gas supply contracts would be procured.
The minister said the department had prioritised the rollout of distribution agency agreements, which would establish clear roles, technical standards and accountability frameworks for municipalities to manage, maintain and expand their distribution infrastructure. These agreements were already being piloted in targeted municipalities and would be scaled up in the 2025/26 financial year. The aim would be to secure investment in the distribution sector particularly at the municipal level.
Ramokgopa said his department was working closely with the department of trade, industry & competition to develop a comprehensive localisation and socioeconomic maximisation model for the energy sector, covering generation, transmission, distribution and associated infrastructure.
The model, he said, would ensure that industrial, skills and equity targets were integrated from project conception to implementation.
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