Eskom Transmission Network

Theme: Economy Date Added: 2018-11-20

What is it?

Eskom publishes a report and supporting data on the existing electricity transmission network and an indication of available transmission capacity for the connection of new generation.

Key Points

  • Existing and planned transmissions lines
  • Existing and planned transmission substations
  • Planned renewable energy IPP locations
  • Data available as PDF and SHP file

Why is it Important?

Eskom needs to ensure it can connect new electricity generation (such as from Renewable Energy IPPs) to the transmission network, so it conducts a regular assessment of existing and planned transmission lines and substations across South Africa. For industry, provincial or city planning, it is also useful to know where transmission capacity is available and where it is being planned.


How can it be accessed and used?

Eskom's transmission planning information can be viewed through the interactive PDF that Eskom publishes or by working directly with the supporting Shapefiles (SHP) that can also be downloaded via the GCCA 2022 Update page. Note that you can view more detailed energy and electricity transmission information on the Infrastructure page of the Bioenergy Atlas for South Africa.

To access the SHP file open the link to "Interactive Map and Spatial Data" or similar and locate "GCCA Spatial Data (Shapefiles.zip)". Download the zip file from this link. There are many online tools that make it easier to work with SHP files so we suggest trying the following:

  1. Convert the SHP file to a more open format, such as GPKG or GeoJSON, using one of the many online tools like mapshaper.
  2. A SHP file is actually not a single file so you will normally need to download or zip up a directory of files and convert the zip. In this case, the converter may generate a number of GeoJSON files for different layers of the dataset (e.g. existing transmission lines, planned transmission lines).
  3. Upload one or more of the GeoJSON files to a tool like Mapbox, QGIS or Kepler.gl. The mapping tool will generate a map with the transmission lines and substations.

Existing_Lines

Location: South Africa
Format: GeoJSON
Year: 2016Last Checked:None
Online: Access URL
Column/
File Names:
  • LINE_START: Town where transmission line starts
  • LINE_END: Town where transmission line ends
  • DESIGN_VOL: Designed voltage
  • energy
  • planning

Resource contact name:Eskom Transmission Division

Creation or start date:2018-11-20

Resource contact updated at:2018-12-14

Spatial coverage  South Africa http://www.geonames.org/953987/south-africa.html

Where else has the resource been used?

Year Project Name::
2017 The role of CSP in the electricity system of South Africa
2015 Transmission network integration of renewable energy in South Africa