10-YEAR TRANSMISSION EXPANSION PROGRAMME Ramokgopa backs local participation as seven consortia prequalify for bids

ELECTRICITY and Energy Minister, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, has stressed that South African companies will be positioned to secure preferred bidder status in later phases of the country's 10-year transmission expansion programme, even as international firms dominate the first phase of the landmark Independent Transmission Project (ITP) initiative.

- BANELE GININDZA

Ramokgopa on Monday announced seven pre-qualified bidders for the initial R17 billion, 1 064-kilometre phase of the transmission development programme, selected from 17 respondents to the prequalification process. A request for proposals (RFP) for the first phase is expected to be issued in the second half of 2026.

The pre-qualified consortia are:

The Adani Power Middle EastMomentous Energy Consortium, led by Adani Power Middle East Limited, based in the United Arab Emirates;

The AREF Cobra Transmission Consortium, led by the South African arm of Grupo Cobra, of Spain; Consortium Pulse Infrastructure, led by Celeo Redes, of Spain; The EITP Consortium, led by Okavango Projects SA; The State Grid Consortium, led by the State Grid International Development Company, of China;

The Hyperion Consortium, led by the South African arm of French multinational EDF; and

The Transmission Africa Consortium, led by China Southern Power Grid International. "The flavour is an international flavour. I want to, when I come back for the third and fourth round, be able to show that the lead member is South African. But let the project mature so that we are getting to levels where we are building enough local capacity," Ramokgopa said