South Africa's R440 billion transmission grid expansion program has attracted interest from international developers, including a company owned by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and Chinese firms.
The continent's most industrialised nation started up the Independent Transmission Projects program in December to bring in private partners to help install 14,000 kilometers of new power lines.
The government aims to add 34 gigawatts of generating capacity from wind and 25 gigawatts from solar over the next 14 years, and will require more connections to an already constrained system.
Seventeen companies and consortia responded to a request for pre-qualification by South Africa's Independent Power Producer Office.
They include Adani Power's Middle East unit, China Southern Power Grid International, State Grid International Development Co. and France's EDF Power Solutions. Local companies SOLA Group and Mulilo Renewable Energy Ltd. also expressed interest.
