South Africa power utility firm Eskom plans to construct major power corridors

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South Africa power utility firm Eskom has announced that six major power corridors will be constructed in South Africa linking the primary load centers in the country and along KwaZulu Natal coast.

The project construction will see new sources of electricity generation in the south and north parts of the country.

This new approach was motivated by the decline in electricity generation in the country.

According to Eskom’s Transmission and grid planning Chief Engineer, Kevin Leask, the main load centers will remain in Gauteng and along KZN Coast will other power pools will emerge in Limpopo, Cape Town and the East of Johannesburg.

13000MW and 7000MW transmission corridors will be constructed between Limpopo and Gauteng, 6000MW between Gauteng and KZN while three transmission corridors of 5000MW and 6000MW between Cape Town and the center of the country.

Leask also noted that work had begun on some of the corridors while others were in the planning and environmental authorization phase.

There would be an increased development of energy generation in form of wind, coal, nuclear, gas and concentrated solar power in Cape Town and Limpopo.

This finding was reinforced by Steve Hedden, ISS African Future and Innovation Researcher, who indicated that grid planning should be incorporated in the early stages of capacity planning.

Hedden also noted that it’s important for grid plans to be integrated with other long term strategies such as the National Water Resource Strategy for policy alignment.

South Africa power utility firm Eskom of South Africa generates about 95% of electricity used in South Africa.