Eskom turns to EPC contracting as it seeks to pick up yearly powerline roll-out pace to 1 500 km

Eskom’s Transmission Division, which will form part of the separated National Transmission Company South Africa once established later this year, will begin relying more heavily on the engineer, procure and construct (EPC) contracting model as it seeks to accelerate the pace at which transmission infrastructure is built in a context where the lack of grid has become a key impediment to the injection of new generation capacity. In an address to suppliers, MD Segomoco Scheppers reported that South Africa needed to add more than 1 500 km of new transmission lines yearly between now and 2032 to ensure that the infrastructure was in place to facilitate the addition of more than 50 GW of new generation capacity, mostly in the form of variable renewables, over the period.