Windaba 2026 brings grid opportunities into focus

Windaba 2026 is taking place on 6 and 7 October 2026 at CTICC 2 in Cape Town.

Grid expansion, market reform, and investment opportunities will be in focus with a strong NTCSA presence at Windaba 2026.

Hosted by the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) and now in its 15th year, Windaba will bring together policymakers, industry leaders, investors, developers and other key stakeholders to explore and address issues shaping South Africa’s energy transition.

The programme is structured across three key themes: Policy, Power, People. Among other issues, it will look at:

IRP 2025 and the policy and market priorities for wind energy
Grid expansion, transmission and fair grid access
Curtailment, storage and grid optimisation
Investment and financing opportunities
Local industry, SMMEs and localisation
Community participation, jobs and skills development
Offshore wind and the future of renewables.

The two-day programme features keynote addresses and industry discussions with representatives from the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), the Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme Office, Eskom Distribution, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), Eskom Green and leading industry organisations. It also offers focused breakaway sessions and networking opportunities.

The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will deliver the opening keynote address at the conference on 6 October 2026.

Grid expansion and market reform

SAWEA has further confirmed that NTCSA will have a significant presence across the programme at Windaba 2026, placing transmission expansion, grid access, electricity market reform and practical industry solutions at the centre of discussions.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Monde Bala, the NTCSA delegation will contribute to several high-level and technical engagements examining the infrastructure, market mechanisms and institutional coordination required to connect new generation capacity and strengthen the national grid.

Bala will reflect on NTCSA’s progress through 2026 and outline the company’s vision for the transmission system towards 2035. In other programme sessions the role of the newly established Grid Access Unit and the practical interventions being implemented to strengthen coordination and alignment with Eskom Generation will be discussed.

The NTCSA’s participation as a strategic partner to Windaba, for the second consecutive year, signals the importance it places on continued engagement with the wind industry as it advances one of South Africa’s most ambitious infrastructure programmes. Its representation across the programme will enable direct engagement on the strategic and operational issues affecting the delivery of new generation capacity.

An investment opportunity

Over the next decade, the NTCSA plans to build approximately 14 500 km of high-voltage transmission lines and install 133 000 MVA of transformer capacity. This represents an estimated investment requirement of R440 billion.

As outlined in the Transmission Development Plan, the programme aims to strengthen the national grid and enable the connection of up to 56 GW of new generation capacity, including renewable energy projects. Although the Independent Transmission Programme will support broader grid expansion, an estimated funding gap of R134 billion remains. Given the scale and urgency of the transmission build, mobilising private capital, strengthening public-private collaboration and developing viable investment and delivery models will be critical to accelerating implementation.

Bala sees it this way: “The funding gap should therefore be viewed as a significant infrastructure investment opportunity. Investors, financiers, developers and other market participants can support the NTCSA by contributing capital, expertise and delivery capacity, including through Independent Transmission Projects and other collaborative mechanisms.”

As South Africa accelerates the procurement and construction of new generation capacity, the pace of transmission delivery will determine how quickly projects can connect to the grid, particularly in provinces with strong wind resources.

With October marking Bala’s first anniversary as NTCSA CEO, his participation at Windaba will provide an opportunity to reflect on progress made, outline the company’s longer-term vision for the transmission network and interact with investors and the broader market to deepen their support for the national transmission build.

“We look forward to robust and productive exchanges at Windaba 2026,” Bala says. “We need the market to work with us in turning South Africa’s transmission plans into bankable projects and infrastructure on the ground.”

Currently, grid constraints remain one of the most significant barriers to bringing new renewable energy projects online, particularly in regions with strong wind resources. NTCSA’s participation at Windaba will extend beyond long-term infrastructure targets to the practical mechanisms needed to improve grid access, strengthen system planning and enable more efficient interaction between the NTCSA and the industry.

SAWEA Interim CEO Titania Stefanus-Zincke notes that the breadth of NTCSA’s participation reflects the central role of transmission in unlocking South Africa’s wind energy potential.

The full programme is available here.

For more information visit: https://www.windaba.co.za/