By: Ecofin agency

Precious Mmabakwena Edward has been appointed head of South Africa’s Independent Power Producers Office (IPPO), effective Tuesday, September 2. Her appointment was announced by the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE), the ministry responsible for the country’s energy policy. The IPPO is a key body for procuring electricity from independent power producers (IPPs).

Edward succeeds Bernard Magoro, whose term at the IPPO ended last April, with Elsa Strydom serving as interim head. According to the DEE, Edward has nearly 20 years of experience in the sector, including time at Eskom and as director of the Kathu concentrated solar power plant, which is operated by the ENGIE Group.

At the IPPO, her task will be to move beyond simply managing procurement to overseeing tenders that integrate power generation, storage, and transmission. The goal is to rapidly convert awarded megawatts into effective grid connections for homes and businesses.

Since 1994, South Africa has completed more than 8.4 million new grid connections, increasing the country’s electrification rate from just over 36% to more than 94% in 2024, according to Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s July parliamentary address.

The government aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2030. To reach this target, it seeks not only to increase private generation projects but also to strengthen transmission infrastructure, with nearly 14,500 kilometers of new lines planned by 2034.

These new lines are necessary to transmit an estimated 56 GW of additional capacity, according to the official transmission network development plan (TDP 2025-2034) published by the state-owned National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA).

Under Edward's leadership, the IPPO must demonstrate its ability to accelerate the pace of awards and unblock transmission projects, which is essential for converting announced megawatts into available power for consumers.