ABSTRACT
The National Grid's 2017 Future Energy Scenarios, meanwhile, outlines increasingly complex electricity flows, as the dominance of large thermal plants eases and decentralised generation, or generation located on the distribution network rather than the transmission network, increases. In this world, the risks associated with integrating lumpy mega-scale electricity generators are high, as has already been amply demonstrated with the ill-fated Medupi and Kusile projects. In the South African context, wholesale privatisation of the generation assets could prove politically unfeasible. Once the generation assets are sold, Eskom will be left with the transmission assets and will be the country's systems operator. Crucially, Eskom transmission system operator or TSO, will oversee the entire electricity system, balancing generation and demand on a second-by-second basis within a defined set of frequency and voltage parameters. The single-most important performance indicator for Eskom TSO will be the overall system reliability.
