Category: Sustainability & Renewable Energy

Norfund and UKCI fund BEE investments into 700 MW wind portfolio in South Africa

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SOUTH AFRICA – Norwegian development finance institution, Norfund, and the UK Climate Investments (UKCI) have announced that they will jointly finance the 40% equity participation of H1 Holdings and Pele Green Energy into a 700 MW portfolio of onshore wind farms in South Africa.  A joint venture of H1 Holdings and Pele Green Energy will invest in wind energy projects alongside Enel Green Power. The deal is one of South Africa’s largest renewable energy equity deals valued at around US$100 million. Enel Green Power is set to retain a 60%…

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AfDB and Rockefeller Foundation sign US$1.6b deal for African renewables

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AFRICA – The African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Rockefeller Foundation have signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions and grid-based energy transition for the African continent.  The partnership was signed just a few days after the launch of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) at COP26. With catalytic capital from The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund, and a consortium of nearly two dozen public and private sector partners, GEAPP aims to accelerate an equitable energy transition in 60+…

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Solar firm Mobisol rebrands as ENGIE Energy Access Kenya

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KENYA – ENGIE Mobisol, a Kenyan Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) solar industry firm has changed its name to ENGIE Energy Access Kenya (EEA Kenya) as it plans to increase access to affordable solar energy solutions to off-grid customers through the Pay-As-You-Go model. This comes after the parent company ENGIE integrated ENGIE Mobisol with Fenix International, another SHS company and mini-grids provider early last year. This integration puts the company in a unique position as the only energy player offering end-to-end off-grid energy solutions with both solar home systems and mini-grids under one…

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Salpha Energy Nigeria secures US$1m from All On to scale its distribution business

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NIGERIA – All On, a Shell-funded impact investment firm, has announced a US$1 million investment in Salpha Energy Nigeria to scale the company’s solar home systems distribution business. Salpha energy is focused on bottom-of-the-pyramid customers in rural and remote areas, peri-urban areas, including the Niger Delta. The investment will be used to increase Salpha’s inventory and product range, Expand sales channels and customer service infrastructure and test more flexible Pricing models to sustainably manage rural customers in states across Nigeria including in Niger Delta. Goziem Okubor, senior investment associate, All-on…

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ENGIE completes the acquisition of Xina Solar One power plant in South Africa

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SOUTH AFRICA – French utility company ENGIE has announced the completion of the acquisition of Abengoa’s indirect stake in Xina Solar One (Pty) Limited. Following completion of the transaction, ENGIE will now hold a 40% equity stake in the Xina Solar One 100 MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant, as well as 46% of the Xina Operations & Maintenance Company (Pty) Ltd. The Xina Solar One plant, located at Pofadder in the Northern Cape, provides approximately 400 GWh of clean, sustainable, and dispatchable electrical energy to 95,000 South African households…

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Malawi commissions its first solar PV plant at 60MW

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MALAWI – The government of Malawi has officially launched the 60 MW Salima Solar PV plant that was developed by JCM Matswani Solar Corp Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) owned by the Canadian Independent Power Producer (IPP) JCM Power and InfraCo Africa Limited. The facility becomes Malawi’s first commercial solar project to connect to the grid. Situated 75km east of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, the new solar energy facility will supply power to Malawi’s state-owned electricity utility, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (ESCOM), via a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). The African Trade Insurance…

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UK Climate Investment and Norfund in US$100m renewable energy equity deal in South Africa

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SOUTH AFRICA – UK Climate Investment (UKCI) and Norfund have announced that they will finance what will become one of South Africa’s largest renewable energy equity deal valued at around US$100 million, reports ESI Africa. The financing is a joint venture between H1 Holdings and Pele Green Energy for a 40% equity participation in a 700MW portfolio of onshore wind farms. Both partners will invest alongside Enel Green Power who will retain a 60% ownership interest. UKCI and Norfund’s commitment is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal number seven…

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AfDB secures US$136m for its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa

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AFRICA – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced US$136 million in additional investment for its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). The announcement was made during the COP26 conference featuring government ministers and a council of leaders in renewable energy. SEFA, a multi-donor trust fund administered by the AfDB, has reaffirmed its support for institutional expansion for its African energy focussed development programs. SEFA’s founding member, Denmark, has disclosed US$14 million in new pledges. Denmark’s Minister for Development and Nordic Cooperation, Fleming Moller Mortensen, deliberated that energy was a…

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Namibia awards US$9.4bn green hydrogen tender to HYPHEN Energy

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NAMIBIA – The government of Namibia has awarded HYPHEN Hydrogen Energy preferred bidder status for the development of the country’s first large-scale vertically integrated green hydrogen project in the Tsau //Khaeb national park. HYPHEN is a Windhoek-based joint venture between British company, Nicholas Holdings Limited, and South African renewables company, ENERTRAG South Africa, a division of German energy company, ENERTRAG. The project, worth an estimated US$9.4 billion, will ultimately produce 300,000 tons of green hydrogen per year for regional and global markets, either as pure green hydrogen or in derivative form (green ammonia). The…

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Mahlako Energy Fund invests in South Africa’s 10MW solar plant

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SOUTH AFRICA – The Mahlako Energy Fund, a fund operated and managed by Mahlako Financial Services (MFS), has invested in South Africa’s first large-scale operational wheeling project, the 10 MW solar plant in the Northern Cape which has reached a commercial operation stage. This milestone project is South Africa’s first large-scale energy wheeling project providing clean energy to Amazon Web Services via the Eskom grid. Wheeling is a financial transaction that allows power to be produced remotely in one location and billed to an energy user in another region. Mahlako…

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