The National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) has officially started trading as of July 1. This marks a significant milestone in the reform of South Africa's electricity market structure, with the hope that it will act as a catalyst to boost efficiency and transparency, and improve the national electricity transmission infrastructure, the Department of Public Enterprises, Eskom and the NTCSA said in a joint statement.
The NTCSA is a separate, distinct, and wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom. It will be responsible for owning and operating the countrys national transmission system, the system operator (SO), the grid strengthening function, energy market services, and the International Trader.
It will act as the Transmission System Operator (TSO) and buyer, and will take on additional roles once the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill is passed into law, the statement said. It will trade with Eskom Generation and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) using the current industry framework. As a market operator, it will provide a platform for generators, consumers, traders, and retailers to trade with each other.
Eskoms legal separation into three distinct entities Generation, Distribution, and Transmission, is aligned with its Turnaround Plan and the DPE Roadmap.
The NTCSA will focus on increasing the national transmission grids capacity to connect much-needed new power generation capacity. As a wholly owned subsidiary, it will operate under the direction of an independent board while providing open access to the electricity network, as envisaged during the unbundling process, said Mteto Nyati , Eskom Board Chairman.
He added that Eskom will continue to focus on ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient operations while accelerating the development of an interconnected transmission system that is in line with its mandate. We will ensure non-discriminatory access to the transmission network and seek ways to accelerate the rollout of the transmission grid.
The NTCSA will operate under the three licences issued by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
- The operation and management of the transmission grid.
- Trading in terms of buying energy from Eskom generators and IPPs as procured by the minister of mineral resources and energy.
- Import and export energy, and act as the trading arm for the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
