Absa, AFD offer loan financing to clean energy SA projects
Engineering News reports that SA's Absa commercial bank and French development finance institution Agence Français de Developpmente (AFD) offer R400-million worth of loan financing to companies with commercially viable clean energy or energy efficient projects.
Absa's loan facility aims to promote medium and large energy efficiency and clean production investments, ranging between R10-million and R100-million.
"The agreement illustrated the bank's focus on sustainability and green financing, as well as its aim to assist South Africa in lowering its carbon emissions and managing climate change," Absa head of business markets Marcel de Klerk said, adding that, while initial focus would be on projects in South Africa; financing could be extended to projects in the rest of Africa at a later stage.
De Klerk told Engineering News that projects would be awarded funding, provided they addressed specifically outlined factors such as retrofitting of existing installations, the inclusion of on-site cogeneration, rehabilitation of boilers, regenerative burners and rehabilitation of power distribution or energy efficiency management systems. Projects that aim to undertake commercial energy efficient building construction and design would also be considered, he said.
Read the full article on www.engineeringnews.co.za.
