First African solar project capacity financed under €5m crowdfunding-backed partnership
Swedish platform Trine, which offers people the chance to invest in solar from as little as €25, has announced plans to generate €5 million credit for South African solar leasing partner Solarise Africa.
Sixty-three PV projects to compete in South Africa’s 2.6 GW renewables tender
The South African authorities have published the list of projects competing in the the fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). It seeks to procure 1 GW of PV and 1.6 GW of wind power.
South Africa raises threshold for distributed generation to 100 MW
The new provisions were published in the country’s official journal on Friday and are now in force. Large scale PV plants of up to 100 MW may be built without requesting a license, through a simplified procedure with the national regulator.
South African state lender launches call to finance PV, wind projects
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has announced plans to support the construction of wind and solar plants ranging in size from 10 MW to 75 MW.
South Africa installed 1.3 GW of PV last year
Around 800 MW of last year’s new additions came from ground-mounted solar plants, and the remaining 500 MW from distributed generation.
A wave of big African solar is set to break
The Africa Solar Industry Association has recorded almost 2 GW of large scale project announcements since the start of last month with 18 countries planning new clean power infrastructure and including energy storage in the plants.
Scatec secures 150 MW of South African tender as part of solar-plus-storage project
The Norwegian renewables business said the PPA-linked generation capacity is part of a wider, $1 billion complex which will feature 540 MW of solar project capacity and 225 MW/1.14 GWh of battery storage.
Green hydrogen supply chain concerns
With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.
South African bank secures continent’s ‘first green loan’
The private-sector arm of the World Bank says it will lend up to $150 million to Johannesburg-based Absa Bank for green project funding.
Solar and wind could provide half of 2040 power mix across 22 African nations
The International Renewable Energy Agency has combined energy infrastructure commitments across a huge swathe of the continent with hundreds of regional sites which offer rich solar and onshore wind potential, to determine what could be possible.
