Investec announced on Wednesday that it was leading the financing of two South African gas power plants being developed by French company GDF Suez, marking the first major non-renewable independent power projects to be financed by South African institutions.
Construction of the two two greenfield open-cycle turbine power plants, the 670-megawatt (MW) Avon plant in KwaZulu-Natal, and the 335 MW Dedisa plant in the Eastern Cape, has commenced.
The plants are expected to start providing electricity to state company Eskom – with whom power purchase agreements were signed in June – in 2015 at the Dedisa plant and 2016 at the Avon plant.
The plants are 38% owned by GDF Suez, 27% by South African company Legend Power Solutions, 25% by Japanese company Mitsui & Co, and 10% by The Peaker Trust representing broad-based black organisations and communities. GDF Suez will establish the company that operates and maintains the two plants.
Investec said on Wednesday that it was the lead finance arranger in a syndicate of six financial institutions for the two projects, together amounting to a R9.7-billion investment in the country.
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