South Africa picks seven pre-qualified bidders for grid buildout

South Africa’s electricity ministry selected seven groups of companies as pre-qualified bidders for the country’s R440 billion ($26 billion) transmission-grid expansion program.

Companies among the consortia include Adani Power’s Middle East unit, Chinese firms State Grid International Development and China Southern Power Grid International Co, and Electricite de France SA, the ministry said in a statement Monday in the capital, Pretoria.

This stage of the program “marks a defining milestone in government’s strategic drive to expand, modernise and strengthen South Africa’s transmission network through diversified delivery mechanisms and sustained private sector participation, in support of long-term economic growth, industrial development and national energy security,” Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters on Monday in the capital, Pretoria.

Ramokgopa also announced that four groups of companies had been selected as preferred bidders under Bid Window 7 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

Upgrading South Africa’s transmission grid will underpin the government’s energy strategy. South Africa is gradually retiring coal-fired plants it currently depends on to generate the bulk of its power, and intends utilising a range of technologies from gas to renewables to meet future demand, the government’s latest blueprint shows.

The first phase of the grid expansion will entail a request for proposals to build 1 164 kilometers of transmission lines designed to bring more than 3 000 megawatts of generation capacity on line, Ramokgopa said in April.

A subsequent build of more than ten times the size of the pilot will also require the procurement and installation of transformers and other equipment.

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