A new data portal made publicly available recently by the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) provides some encouraging insight into the country’s power generation project pipeline.

The prosaically titled ‘Generation Customer Connection Data Dashboard’ confines its attention to projects that have either received a grid connection budget quote, or BQ, or have applied for a BQ.

In other words, these are serious projects – ones that have undergone a detailed engineering design, received their various approvals and where the project originators have put down money to secure the grid connection.

In fact, the dashboard shows four categories of projects, including: 128 projects, with a capacity of 7.6 GW, that are already operational; a total of 67 projects, with a capacity of 5.7 GW, that are in execution; another 23, with a capacity of 2.8 GW, that have been issued with BQs; and 114 projects, with a capacity of 15.4 GW, that have formally applied for a grid connection BQ.

Encouragingly, that means there are 204 serious projects, with a combined capacity of nearly 24 GW, that are either currently being built, or advancing towards construction before 2030.

This is arguably doubly encouraging, given that these projects are having to navigate the country’s grid constraints, as well as some of the structural uncertainties currently bedevilling the electricity supply industry.

While the projects are not named, the NTCSA has provided visibility of the technologies involved, as well as the provinces in which these projects are located.

As would be expected, solar PV is the dominant technology represented, with 15.2 GW of capacity across all categories, including 3 GW of operational capacity.

Importantly, this figure excludes South Africa’s estimated installed base of rooftop or behind-the-meter solar of some 7 GW.

The geographical insights may prove somewhat more surprising, with the Free State leading the way with 4.2 GW across 31 projects, again mostly in the form of solar PV.

From a country perspective, the dashboard indicates that there is serious development activity under way, which represents an opportunity across the project-economy value chain.

Taken alongside the yearly South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey, which in 2025 showed there to be 220 GW of renewables project capacity at various stages of development, the dashboard also reinforces the notion of ongoing investor appetite.

It does not imply that the South African electricity supply industry has been derisked, and that security of supply is guaranteed, however. There are still serious risks and the structural foundations for a more sustainable and resilient industry that is able to deliver stable and affordable electricity are not yet fully in place.

Nevertheless, the visibility it provides is welcome, as is the opportunity it provides for even better analysis, especially if it is updated regularly. Such information should, for instance, make it easier for analysts to compare the real project activity under way against what the country requires from a generation, grid and flexibility perspective to ensure security of supply as coal capacity is retired.