Nedbank CIB energy finance principal Duncan Abel A leading South African bank is forecasting “exponential growth” for the country’s small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) market in the coming few years, having already committed to funding project pipelines worth more than R1-billion, mostly in the form of rooftop solar.
Nedbank CIB energy finance principal Duncan Abel tells Engineering News that the market has already expanded materially from close to zero only five years ago, in spite of ongoing regulatory uncertainty. Liberalisation of the grid, wheeling and battery storage will further fuel rapid growth, he asserts.
The bank is also a leading financier to South Africa’s utility-scale renewable energy programme, with over R35-billion committed to funding such projects.
The growth in SSEG has been underpinned by a sharp fall in the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in particular, as well as a desire among South African companies for tariff certainty in a context of ongoing, above inflation, Eskom hikes and load-shedding.
Nedbank CIB energy finance principal Duncan Abel tells Engineering News that the market has already expanded materially from close to zero only five years ago, in spite of ongoing regulatory uncertainty. Liberalisation of the grid, wheeling and battery storage will further fuel rapid growth, he asserts.
The bank is also a leading financier to South Africa’s utility-scale renewable energy programme, with over R35-billion committed to funding such projects.
The growth in SSEG has been underpinned by a sharp fall in the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in particular, as well as a desire among South African companies for tariff certainty in a context of ongoing, above inflation, Eskom hikes and load-shedding.
Advertisement
In addition, many SSEG deployments, particularly those being undertaken by multinationals operating in South Africa, are increasingly motivated by internal decarbonisation targets and commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Abel says there is significant pent-up demand for small-scale deployments, which have hitherto been restricted mostly to sub-1 MW projects, owing to regulatory uncertainty regarding the licensing of larger plants.
Even absent any possible change to the regulations, Abel anticipates that demand will continue to increase strongly.
Read more.....
Abel says there is significant pent-up demand for small-scale deployments, which have hitherto been restricted mostly to sub-1 MW projects, owing to regulatory uncertainty regarding the licensing of larger plants.
Even absent any possible change to the regulations, Abel anticipates that demand will continue to increase strongly.
Read more.....
RSS Feed
