is set to miss its deadline to have a transmission company operating by December, which is a crucial step in its unbundling process. to expedite the process of granting the National Transmission Company of South Africa a licence to operate.
“It is Eskom’s understanding that Nersa has subsequently been evaluating the applications and are following their governance processes to conclude on their decisions. Eskom had aimed to get the company to the point where it could start trading in the last quarter of this year but it was dependent on other parties to do this.said there were only two conditions that had to be met to get the transmission company up and running — the licences to operate and obtaining lender consent, where required.
“The utility claims to have no money but there are talks to squander some money as the company starts to make money. Those involved already have plans for the money that will be brought into the country to address the transmission problems,” the source said. “The way they spoke, it seems the people involved are certain they will be chosen to be part of the group involved in the grid expansion project. At this rate, we doubt it may even happen,” one of the sources said.The utility is in the process of securing lenders’ consent for the split and hopes that it will have this by December.
He noted that the latest bid windows in the government’s renewable energy programme show that transmission is the real constraint, and its development is the catalyst for the just energy transition. “I think the right messages are coming from the government as to the importance and the urgency around the grid.
“The Eskom balance sheet is not in the position to finance the kind of expansion that is required in both the scale and the speed at which we need to respond to the needs.