Electricity and Control September 2023

TRANSFORMERS, SUBSTATIONS + CABLES : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

NERSA approves NTC licence to operate

At the end of July 2023, the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) approved the issuing of a licence to the National Transmission Company of South Africa (SOC) Limited (‘NTC’) to operate a transmission system within the national borders of the Republic of South Africa. NERSA Chairperson, Thembani Bukula said: “This is a milestone decision by the energy regulator and marks a significant step forward in Eskom’s planned unbundling.” It should be noted that the trading licence and import/export licence, which Eskom’s Transmission Division had applied for in a bundled application, are still to be processed and approved separately. While this has raised some concern, it is understood to be based on the energy regulator’s administrative procedures rather than any objections to the further licence applications. In the 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd would be unbundled into three wholly owned entities: Generation, Transmission and Distribution. As this process progresses, the NTC, as the Transmission entity, is taking the lead.

The NTC will operate as an independent transmission system operator, wholly owned by Eskom Holdings. “The NTC is envisaged to be an independent transmission system operator incorporating, inter alia, the currently non licensable but integrated functions of network provision, system operation and system planning. “The independence of the NTC is an important signal to all stakeholders, including investors, that they will have non discriminatory access to the transmission system,” NERSA said. Furthermore, the NTC is responsible for ensuring grid sta bility and is allowed to buy and sell power, though not for profit, to meet this responsibility. “However,” NERSA noted, “in terms of section 15(1) of the Act, the NTC will be afforded the opportunity to recover its efficiently incurred costs and a reasonable return on its as sets. The energy regulator understands that these provisions are within the ambit of the Act and will enable the NTC to be operationalised as an independent and reliable transmission system operator.” The NTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom, which has been established in line with the government’s objectives and the Department of Public Enterprises’ (DPE’s) ‘Roadmap for Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply Industry’ (the ‘White Paper’), issued on 29 October 2019. The NTC will operate the transmission system and fulfil the following key roles to ensure the integrity of the interconnect ed power system (IPS): - Transmission network service provider (TNSP) - System operator (SO) - Transmission system planner (TSP) - Grid code secretariat. The NTC’s licence application was processed following due regulatory process, including a public hearing which was conducted on 11 April 2023. “All presenters that made oral presentations during the public hearing supported the application. NERSA analysed the application to assess whether it meets the minimum requirements for licensing, as contained in section 10(2) of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No.4 of 2006), and it was found to meet the licensing requirements,” the energy regulator said.

For more information visit: www.sanews,gov.za

28 Electricity + Control SEPTEMBER 2023