South Africa has approved the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Act to reform the country’s energy sector by introducing competition and private sector participation. The bill amends the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006 and it seeks to create an open market platform for competitive wholesale or retail buying and selling of electricity, the creation of an independent Transmission System Operator (TSO) and the development of a Market Code to govern the future competitive market and outlines the process through which the code will be approved. The new TSO must be established within five years, with the National Transmission Company of South Africa acting as the TSO interim in the meantime. The move expects to reduce state power utility Eskom monopoly and lead towards the diversification of the country's coal reliant energy system.
The South African government also announced the withdrawal of a 2.5 GW new nuclear capacity procurement process due to an insufficient public consultation during the procedure. The procurement has been delayed three to six months, and the new determination will have to comply with an updated Integrated Resource Plan which is currently being updated.
At the end of 2023, South Africa had an installed capacity of 65 GW of which 73% comes from coal, representing a 84% share of the country’s power mix. South Africa has been facing power blackouts, which resulted in 280 days of load-shedding (63% of the hours) and 332 days in 2023.
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