Standard Bank has closed a R4.9 billion deal for the 140MW Ishwati Emoyeni Wind Farm project, located near Murraysburg in the Western Cape.

A first of a kind project has reached financial close and entered construction with Standard Bank as sole mandated lead arranger.

The 140MW Ishwati Wind Farm was led, co-sponsored and developed by Africa Clean Energy Developments (ACED), with the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) managed IDEAS Fund and Reatile as shareholders.

The R4.9 billion wind project, was the first sizeable renewable energy project to sign a GPPA (Generator Power Purchase Agreement) with renewable energy aggregator, NOA.

The wind farm will comprise 32 Vestas 4.5MW wind turbines, each standing 120m high, and started construction in September 2024 and will start generating electricity in 2026.

The power generated by the ACED-EIMS-IDEAS-Reatile generation consortium will be sold to NOA under a long-term power purchase agreement, enabling NOA to supply multiple business customers through shorter, more flexible arrangements.

“In the case of Ishwati, wind power generated in the Western Cape, will be wheeled through the Eskom transmission network and then transmitted to end users such as Tronox, MMC, Old Mutual Properties, Netcare and others,” said Karel Cornelissen, CEO of NOA Group.

“NOA is facilitating not wind or solar energy to end users but rather a profile of green electrons achieved by aggregating multiple generators (wind, solar and battery projects) and providing this to multiple end users under more flexible arrangements” said Standard Bank Executive: Project Finance, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Sherrill Byrne.

Standard Bank pointed to a big shift in the market, most notably the change in reform in line with the amendments of the Electricity Regulatory Act. This has provided room for more flexible power generation options through aggregators.

The lender has been mandated for four renewable power aggregators in South Africa. These aggregators source renewable energy from various generation assets, such as wind and solar, and sell it to multiple off-takers.

Additionally, Standard Bank said it aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its own operations by 2040 and from its portfolio of financed emissions by 2050, aligned with the Paris Agreement.