Energy trader Etana Energy reaches Financial Close on first solar project unlocked with financing from Norfund and Standard Bank

The deal will unlock 75MWac new renewable electricity capacity for large power users. 

Source: Render image provided by Mulilo 

Cape Town, South Africa – As demand for low-carbon electricity increases, Etana Energy continues to blaze a trail in South Africa’s renewable electricity sector. The pioneering South African energy trader supplying renewable energy for large power users, secured a R1 billion payment guarantee facility with Standard Bank, and a preference share investment of up to R372M from Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries, and Standard Bank. This follows the signing of a $100 million (R1.8 billion) guarantee facility agreement with GuarantCo and British International Investment (BII) late last year, a deal extensively covered in the media.  

This investment and guarantee financing enables the company’s energy aggregator business model—and is paving the way for large-scale, multibillion-rand renewable electricity projects that are now advancing to construction. 

On 17 March 2025, the 75MW Du Plessis Dam Solar PV2 project, codeveloped by Mulilo and H1 Holdings, two of the leading players in South Africa’s renewable energy sector, reached financial close with Etana as the offtaker. This marks a major milestone for the rapidly growing energy trader. The solar project is located just outside De Aar in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, with construction kicking off at the end of April 2025. This deal is one of the first utility-scale projects closed in South Africa with a trader as the offtaker. 

This is Etana’s first solar project as offtaker and the first to utilise the company’s guarantee facilities; with Etana having already contracted with a 5MW hydro facility (Boston Hydro), which is currently under construction with Growthpoint as the sole offtaker. 

“Securing financial close on this project demonstrates the market’s confidence in Etana's trading model — vetted and approved by blue-chip customers, independent power producers (IPPs), commercial lenders, and guarantors. Combined with strong financial backing, this has given us the platform to scale rapidly, bringing up to 700MW of wind and solar power into the system at a critical time for South Africa.” says Jay Govender, Chief Commercial and Legal Officer, Etana Energy. 

“We are incredibly proud to be associated with the financing of both Etana as trader and Du Plessis Dam as generator and this encapsulates how we partner with our clients along the value chain” – Sherrill Byrne, Executive Investment Banking at Standard Bank. 

Etana has already contracted with over 20 customers for its initial 280MW (comprising these hydro, solar and two other wind projects) underscoring the strong demand for its offering. With the first projects now progressing to construction, the company is shifting focus onto contracting customers for its next phase of secured grid-connectable wind and solar projects. 

Evan Rice, CEO of Etana Energy said: “Our ambition is to make a meaningful contribution to South Africa’s energy transition and energy security, unlocking investment in new renewable energy generation capacity by providing businesses with affordable, low-carbon power through the grid. With financial backing from leading global and local institutions and a secured portfolio of grid-connectable wind and solar projects with leading IPP partners, we are well-positioned to help accelerate the next wave of renewable electricity growth and solidify our role as a key player in South Africa’s evolving electricity sector. This milestone would not have been possible without the collaboration and trust of our partners—our sincere thanks to the investors, guarantors, IPPs, lenders and customers who have walked this road with us.” 

Vincenzia Leitich, Executive Client Coverage at Standard Bank said “Standard Bank, through partnership and innovation, has established itself as a leader in structuring transactions with a trader offtake. This transaction exemplifies that leadership, providing funding at the project level while also supporting Etana with the necessary trader liquidity assistance.”   

Chanine Williams, Senior Investment Manager at Norfund: "Norfund is excited to be a long-term partner in Etana Energy’s journey, working alongside H1 Holdings and Chariot to bring more renewable energy onto the South African grid. This investment aligns with our mission to support innovative, market-driven solutions that unlock clean energy at scale. We are proud to back a company that is driving new market innovation and enabling large power users to transition to scale and accelerate South Africa’s energy transition."    

ENDS 

Key contacts 

Etana Energy 
Nimal Chabilall 
Head of Operations 
Email: info@etana.energy

Issued by Treeshake on behalf of Etana Energy 
Anneke Burns 
Publicist 
Tel: +27 71 423 0079 
Email: anneke@abpr.co.za 

About Etana Energy 
Etana Energy is a majority black-owned, licensed electricity trader that supplies electricity generated by renewable energy projects to businesses in South Africa, using the national electricity grid. Etana’s customers benefit from certified low-carbon electricity at tariffs competitive with Eskom or municipal supply, forward price certainty, flexible contracting terms and qualifying B-BEEE expenditure. Etana’s founding shareholders are H1 Holdings, a black-owned investment company and Chariot Limited, a British group focused on developing transitional energy projects in Africa, listed on the London Stock Exchange. Etana has offices in Cape Town, Gqeberha and Johannesburg. For more information, visit  https://etana.energy/  

About Standard Bank Group 
Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries, four global financial centres and two offshore hubs. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB. 

Standard Bank has a 162-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. Our strategic position, which enables us to connect Africa to other select emerging markets as well as pools of capital in developed markets, and our balanced portfolio of businesses, provide significant opportunities for growth. 

As at 30 June 2024, Standard Bank Group had 19.5 million clients, employed nearly 51 000 people (including Liberty) and had almost 1 200 points of representation and 5 500 ATMs on the African continent. 

The group’s largest shareholder is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 19.4% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets. 

For further information, go to http://www.standardbank.com 

About Norfund 
Norfund is the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries with a mission to create jobs and improve lives by investing in businesses that drive sustainable development. Owned and funded by the Norwegian Government, Norfund is the Government’s most important tool for strengthening the private sector in developing countries and reducing poverty. 

Norfund’s committed portfolio amounts to USD 3.6 billion, with investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Additionally, Norfund manages the Norwegian Climate Investment Fund, which focuses on reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions by investing in renewable energy in developing countries with large emissions from coal and other fossil fuel production. For more details, please visit: www.norfund.no 

Etana Energy signs a landmark R1.8 billion Guarantee Facility deal with GuarantCo and British International Investment to unlock new renewable energy capacity for South Africa

Etana Energy, the South African energy trading company aims to unlock R9 billion of new renewable energy investment through a groundbreaking deal with GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), and British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor.

Perdekraal East Wind Farm. One of H1’s Round 4 Assets, under Mainstream Renewable Power.                                      Credit: Courtesy of Perdekraal East Wind Farm https://perdekraaleastwind.co.za/

GuarantCo and BII will provide $100 million ($50 million each) of default guarantee finance for Etana in South Africa’s largest “energy wheeling framework” transaction. 

This innovative type of deal is designed to unlock new renewable energy capacity by providing independent power producers (IPPs) with the revenue certainty they need to break ground on new renewable energy projects.

It is expected that the US$100 million in guarantee financing will unlock an estimated R9 billion of new renewable energy projects – providing a major boost to South Africa’s green energy transition – and underlining the UK’s support for the country’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).  Displacing fossil fuel generation with electricity generated from renewable sources will avoid 1.2 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions annually and create a significant number of new jobs.

This transaction qualifies under the IPG (International Partner Group countries) as part of their JETP commitment to South Africa. JETP is funded by several governments, including the UK, and serves to accelerate South Africa’s environmental transition in the energy sector. This is GuarantCo’s first contribution to this programme. 

The guarantee facility will enable around 500MW to be added to the grid by several renewable energy (wind and solar) IPPs over the next few years. 

Recent regulatory changes in South Africa have opened up the opportunity for private power producers to sell electricity to business customers , and companies like Etana are looking to accelerate this opportunity, expanding the addressable market by buying renewable energy from private generators and then selling that output to a portfolio of commercial customers by “wheeling” the electricity across the existing transmission network.

Etana’s founding shareholders are H1 Holdings, a black-owned investment company with which BII has a longstanding relationship, and Chariot Limited, a British group which is focused on developing transitional energy projects in Africa, listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: CHAR).

Iain Macaulay, Director and Head of Project Finance, Africa for BII, said: “BII is demonstrating global leadership in unlocking private capital for climate finance. The Etana deal is a truly innovative form of financing that I hope will serve as a template for unlocking South Africa’s green energy potential.” 

Evan Rice, CEO at Etana Energy, said: “We need to pursue all avenues that can unlock the capital required to build new electricity generation capacity in South Africa. Local businesses need low carbon, cost-competitive electricity to remain relevant and viable. Etana’s aggregation model offers a way to meet these needs whilst enabling new renewable energy capacity to be built. This guarantee facility is a critical piece of the puzzle for a relatively new company like Etana to be a bankable offtaker for IPPs. We are incredibly grateful to GuarantCo and BII for their vision, support and commitment to catalysing this opportunity with us.’’

Surabhi Mathur Visser, Deputy CEO at GuarantCo, said: “We are proud to support the renewables sector in South Africa by entering into this guarantee framework agreement with Etana Energy. From an investment point of view, it provides strong replication opportunities by proving to the market that a guarantee framework can work at scale. GuarantCo continues to seek out potential market transformation transactions like this in lower-income communities to deliver against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in alignment with the PIDG 2030 strategy.”

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Key contacts

GuarantCo PIDG Alison Hicks Cecilie Sorhus Communications Consultant  Head of Communications +44 (0)7385 551 967 +44 (0)7917 302 724 alison.hicks@guarantco.com cecile.sorhus@pidg.org

BII Andrew Murray-Watson Head of Media +44 7515 695232 amurray-watson@bii.co.uk

About British International Investment

British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor. As a trusted investment partner to businesses in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, BII invests to create productive, sustainable and inclusive economies in our markets. Between 2022-2026, at least 30 per cent of BII’s total new commitments by value will be in climate finance. BII is also a founding member of the 2X Challenge which has raised over $33.6 billion to empower women’s economic development. The company has investments in over 1,580 businesses across 65 countries and total net assets of £8.5 billion. For more information, visit: www.bii.co.uk | watch here. Follow British International Investment on LinkedIn and X.

About GuarantCo

GuarantCo mobilises private sector local currency investment for infrastructure projects and supports the development of financial markets in lower income countries across Africa and Asia. GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, through the PIDG Trust, the Netherlands, through FMO and the PIDG Trust, France through a stand-by facility and Global Affairs Canada through a repayable facility. GuarantCo is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s. Since 2005, GuarantCo has enabled USD 6.8 billion of total investment and USD 5.7 billion of private sector investment, giving 44.7 million people access to infrastructure and creating around 243,000 jobs. GuarantCo’s activities are managed by GuarantCo Management Company which is part of Cardano Development 

To find out more visit: www.guarantco.com

About Etana Energy

Etana Energy is a majority black-owned licenced electricity trader that supplies electricity generated by renewable energy projects to businesses in South Africa, using the national electricity grid. Etana’s customers benefit from certified low-carbon electricity at tariffs competitive with Eskom or municipal supply, forward price certainty, flexible contracting terms and qualifying B-BEEE expenditure. For more info see www.etana.energy 

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