#SOGA16: DBSA's multi-billion rand investments in renewables

The bank says it has financed 21 renewable energy projects since the launch of the programme, including five commercial solar panels, nine solar PVs and five wind projects. Funding has been provided in the form of senior debt, mezzanine debt and BEE funding.

Lucy Chege, general manager for energy financing at the DBSA, said “The DBSA’s achievements in the renewable energy space confirms our role as an instrumental partner in developing integrated solutions for and on behalf of the department of energy’s IPP office and national treasury.”

“The energy portfolio accounts for the banks largest exposure and this signals our commitment to working with all partners and promoting the DBSA’s regional integration and infrastructure programme,” she said at the 2nd South Africa Gas Options conference held in Cape Town this week.

To date, the DBSA has contributed to 2,512MW of power being installed on the national grid and approximately R14,9bn of commitments have been made to support government programmes in the energy space. Some of the successes include the construction of two IPP Peaking power plants in South Africa - Avon 670MW and Dedisa 335 MW.

This announcement comes two weeks after the release of the DBSA’s financial results which revealed that the bank had delivered a net profit of R2,6bn and sustainable earnings of R1,4bn in the 2015/2016 financial year. In this 12-month period ending March 2016, the DBSA delivered R28bn across the total infrastructure value chain, with development assets now standing at R77bn and total assets at R82bn.

The bank has also financed numerous gas fired plants and infrastructure throughout the continent as part of regional integration efforts to address the power crisis. Regional projects include Cenpower, Ghana powership and funded the Bulk Oil Storage Terminal of Ghana.