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"We can see there are numerous new opportunities for development of co-operation partnerships between us. In our international strategic plan we have attached great importance to SA," said Li Ren, Vice-Manager of the International Co-operation Department for China Guodian. As to timelines, he said the development was expected to happen 'soon'.

China Guodian is the largest wind power operator in Asia and second largest in the world.

Representatives from both the China Guodian Corporation and the Shandong Electric Power Engineering Consulting Institute (SDEPCI) discussed their intentions to invest in numerous projects at the Energex Africa conference at Gallagher Estate in Midrand on Tuesday.

The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) said these investments would be major positives for SA, which is struggling with a tight gap between power production and requirements.

"In terms of demand for the total SAPP we are around 46,000 megawatts, and if we put in our reserve margin of 10.2% as an interconnected power system we are in a deficit of around 283 megawatts provided all the power stations are running at any given time, which is not always the case. So our deficit is much more than the 283," said SAPP chief market analyst Musara Beta.

Beta said in his speech that SAPP had numerous interconnection plans in place for the next ten years, including a line from northern Mozambique to SA and an upgrade to South Africa's current system.

When asked where the money would come from to implement these plans, Beta said: "I think one of the solutions is why we are here. We expect our Chinese counterparts to assist us as well."

"In the past you would find that most of the projects that were developed in the region had to have one of the customers being South Africa. I think they've managed to drive quite a number of projects within the region. But obviously they can only chew up to a certain extent. This is why I think SAPP has revised its governance to allow for independent power producers," said Beta.   

SDEPCI deputy chief engineer Shen Weidong said the company wanted to share the most advanced technology in the world for power generation and transmission with SA clients and partners. "We are willing to provide more working opportunities for SA and more trainings and more environmental, energy saving power for South Africa."