Tshifhiwa Bernard appointed Head of Independent Power Producers Office, South Africa
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) announced the appointment of Mr. Tshifhiwa Bernard Magoro as the new Head of the Independent Power Producers Office (IPPO), effective 01 May 2020.
Tshifhiwa is currently the General Manager of the Eskom System Operator and Eskom Telecommunications, responsible for ensuring the integrity of the South African electricity grid (including managing real time electricity supply and demand balancing).
Mr. Tshifhiwa’s appointment comes after a rigorous recruitment process and on the recommendation of an interview panel which consisted of representatives from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), the National Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Committee (GTAC) and the DBSA.
Tshifhiwa is an electrical engineer by profession and has over 20 year’s technical, managerial and leadership experience in the Electricity Supply Industry. He has held technical positions in planning, operations, project management, energy markets, regulation, compliance management, grid codes, benchmarking activities, as well as grid integration of different generation technologies (gas, coal and renewable energy).
Following the implementation of the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme (REIPPP), Tshifhiwa led the process that saw the development and enforcement of the first renewable grid code in South Africa.
He currently serves as a governing board member of the GO15, which is a group comprised of the 19 largest grid operators in the world. He was recently appointed to the Eskom Transmission Divisional Board.
Tshifhiwa holds a BSc in Maths, Physics & Statistics from the University of Venda; a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town; a B Comm from UNISA; a MBA from Wits Business School; and a LLB from UNISA.
