Long delay in dividend flows to renewables-linked community trusts impeding effectiveness

The long lag between the establishment of community trusts that own a portion of the independent power producer (IPP) projects procured through South Africa’s renewables procurement programme and the flow of dividend income into these trusts has been identified in a new research report as a major impediment to the effectiveness of these trusts. The report, produced by Intellidex for FirstRand, estimates the projected dividend flows from projects procured, to date, under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) will be about R27-billion over the 20-year life of the projects. On average, community trusts hold between 9% and 12% equity in these REIPPPP-linked facilities.
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IFC, Absa launch green loan for energy projects

International financial institution the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has provided financial services group Absa with a loan of up to $150-million to support the bank’s strategy to expand its climate finance business and help South Africa meet its greenhouse-gas (GHG) reduction targets. In South Africa, financial institutions are critical sources of climate finance, with commercial banks providing about 67% of the financing for renewable energy projects.
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Production starts at Total’s Zinia project in Angola

Production from the Zinia Phase 2 short-cycle project, which is connected to the existing Pazflor’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in Angola, has started. The project is operated by petroleum refiner Total, which is the joint operator of Block 17 in Angola, together with the Angolan National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency.
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Indebted Eskom balks at power deal offered by Turkish generator

Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s State power utility, doesn’t want to buy electricity from the company that won most of a government emergency-power tender because it’s concerned about the cost and length of the contract, according to two people familiar with the situation. Meeting the terms of Karpowership’s 20-year deal would add pressure to Eskom’s already stretched finances and heighten its exposure to fossil fuels, said the people, requesting anonymity as the utility is yet to comment publicly. The company has a debt burden of R464-billion and is struggling to meet payments even with the help of State bailouts.
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Successful localisation programme requires consistent renewables procurement pipeline

To achieve a successful localisation programme with incremental local content thresholds as part of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), a consistent procurement pipeline needs be established, says industry association South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) CEO Ntombifuthi Ntuli. The stop-start nature of procurement, and latent bid windows, severely damaged the meaningful momentum, pre-2015, which established new manufacturing capacity within the wind and solar value chains in South Africa.
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