Speaking at the Africa Energy Forum here, the Minister said this is the amount required to increase the national power grid by 14,000 kilometers over the next 10 years.

Faced with such a challenge, Ramokgopa warned that this is going to require a huge amount of investment. “The treasury will not be able to support this. The balance sheet of the national energy company, Eskom, is not enough, so it is important to find tailor-made financing instruments to make this possible.”

Addressing the continental energy issue, the Minister upheld a single electricity market for Africa, as advocated by the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

According to Ramokgopa, 43 percent of Africa’s total population has no access to electricity.

“This is a big problem. Before we can talk about transition, people need to have access to any form of electricity, regardless of fuel sources,” he said.

As a country and continent, we have a responsibility to ensure that we can provide this access in a way that does not degrade the environment and to meet our obligations to ensure that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Minister indicated.

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