SEA for strategic grid planning in South Africa: Enabling the efficient and effective roll out of strategic electricity transmission infrastructure

Abstract

The design of the future transmission grid in South Africa is undergoing a major change as the generation mix in the future will be very different to the existing situation (DoE, 2011) The biggest impact from a transmission grid aspect is the different spatial location of the new generation sources, in particular the renewable energy sources (Eskom, 2013). These generation resources will be implemented by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and new power corridors will need to be created to provide grid access for them (Eskom, 2014). A further challenge that will have to be faced is obtaining the necessary environmental approvals and authorisations to construct the new transmission lines and substations within the new power corridors. Taking these processes into account means that new transmission line projects can take between five and ten years to complete, while IPPs can have their power plants up and running within two to three years after bid award. Thus a new approach to planning and obtaining environmental authorisations for the transmission grid of the future is required to reduce the response time for the new transmission infrastructure and bring new generation sources online quickly. This paper describes how this new approach has been formulated and implemented in South Africa.