The advent of renewables, new storage technologies present Africa’s utilities with an opportunity to increase capacity and efficiency while re-kindling their appeal to investors. There has been a clear and rapid evolution in Africa’s energy and energy infrastructure landscape over the last decade. While much of this new technology has challenged the traditional dominance and […]
. FirstRand Bank has joined the exodus of local banks that were funding new coal-fired power plants in South Africa, and in particular the Thabametsi and Khanyisa independent power producer (IPP) projects. These two projects are included in the draft integrated resource plan for electricity, Draft IRP 2018, for completion in 2023 and 2024. The […]
. Nedbank lived up to its slogan as the “green” bank in a decision to withdraw its funding of two proposed new coal-fired power stations in South Africa, Thabametsi and Khanyisa. This decision fits with the banking group’s commitment to “green” funding, responsible lending and supporting sustainability initiatives. The bank says its initial proposal for […]
In a first-ever guarantee collaboration with the French development finance institution Proparco, Standard Bank has assembled an innovative local funding structure for the construction of a R950-million, 45 MW solar PV plant in Namibia. Since the project did not benefit from a government guarantee, there was no political risk protection in the power purchase agreement […]
International and local efforts to restrict funding for construction of new coal-fired power plants are gaining momentum, and threatening financial closure of the planned two new coal independent power producer projects in South Africa, Thabametsi and Khanyisa. In the latest development, it has been reliably learned that last week Standard Bank advised the director general […]
With recent reports estimating that 600-million people are without access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, significant and sustained investment is required across Africa’s entire energy generation and supply value chain. While even a decade ago meeting Africa’s energy backlog was considered unaffordable, today, many largely technology-driven factors are creating new opportunities for investment in Africa’s […]
According to the newly issued report titled “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of South Africa: A Strategy for Global Leadership”, South Africa is one of the top countries in Africa for entrepreneurship. The report ranked SA at number two out of 30 countries in the sub-Saharan African region. It also ranked SA number 55 out of 137 […]
South Africa is world-renowned for clawing mineral wealth from the earth, often at depths that are unequalled anywhere else in the world. Working at these great depths means physical discomfort and danger – all risks that have to be considered and planned for. Ultimately, it is the combination of innovation and technology that save […]
Mozambique liquefied natural gas, (LNG) stands to transform the country and entrench it as a leading player in the global LNG industry. Developing these reserves and scaling up the currently planned LNG facility to its potentially multi-train capacity, will establish Mozambique as one of the largest exporters of LNG, a commodity of increasing global […]
Standard Bank Group has renewed its commitment to the Power Africa Initiative, a multi-stakeholder project driven by US President Barack Obama, which aims to double access to power in Africa by significantly accelerating investment in the sector over the next five years. The US government has committed more than US$7 -billion in financial support […]
