NTPC and Eskom Explored Green Power Joint Venture
Energy operators in South Africa and India are discussing a partnership to expand renewable capacity and upgrade thermal assets.
Updated on Oct. 12, 2026 in Utilities
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India's NTPC and South Africa's Eskom are negotiating a potential green energy joint venture to support South Africa's clean energy expansion. The two utilities have maintained a partnership for approximately 18 months, focusing on technical training and maintenance.
Why it matters
The collaboration aims to stabilize South Africa's power grid by integrating maintenance expertise for ageing thermal plants with aggressive new green power targets. Improving grid reliability remains critical after the country managed to avoid load-shedding for over 500 days as of October 4, 2026.
Eskom generates 90% of South Africa's power, while NTPC holds a total installed capacity of 91.5GW. South Africa plans to grow green power capacity from 19GW today to 105GW by 2035.
The players
NTPC
India's largest state-owned energy conglomerate with 91.5GW of installed power generation capacity.
Eskom
The state-owned utility responsible for 90% of South Africa's power generation.
The details
NTPC currently assists Eskom through a three-month in-house engineering training program held in India. Additionally, NTPC is set to supply critical spare parts and components for Eskom's ageing thermal power plants, which currently represent 45GW of capacity. This operational support follows a memorandum of understanding signed between the two companies approximately 18 months ago.
Timeline
1961: The Komati power station was commissioned.
1985: The Tutuka power station unit was commissioned.
2023: South Africa witnessed 91 days of power outages.
October 4, 2026: South Africa surpassed 500 days without load-shedding.
2030: Target date for achieving 26GW of green power capacity.
Market Landscape
The partnership follows the strategic shift toward diversifying South Africa's energy mix away from its traditional reliance on thermal plants commissioned as early as 1961. This move aligns with broader national efforts to meet growing power demand through an aggressive 105GW green capacity target by 2035.
Operators reliant on consistent power should monitor the progress of these maintenance upgrades, as grid stability remains a critical business continuity factor. Tracking the transition from thermal reliance to 26GW of green capacity by 2030 will be essential for projecting future energy costs.
The takeaway
The partnership highlights the value of cross-border technical knowledge sharing in upgrading legacy infrastructure. Operators should evaluate their own critical infrastructure lifecycles against the availability of specialized maintenance and component supply chains.
Further reading
For more on shifting infrastructure strategies, visit the Utilities section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Mint.
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