Investec Bank has, through its power and infrastructure finance (PIF) division, signed a R100-million term facility to fund Mettle Solar Investments’ current and future portfolio of commercial rooftop solar installations in sub-Saharan Africa.

“With the decreasing cost of solar installations, the environment is becoming ever more favourable for the commercial rooftop solar market, with property companies and large energy users leading the way.

“Investec is already one of the leaders in the provision of funding to this sector in North America and we were able to leverage our international expertise and deep understanding of the solar industry to provide an innovative funding solution to Mettle Solar.

“This, in turn, allows the company to provide a competitive alternative energy product to [its] clients, facilitating the growth of solar energy in Africa,” PIF Africa head Michael Meeser said.

Mettle Solar is a joint venture (JV) between JSE-listed Tradehold Group, through one of its subsidiaries Mettle Investments, and the TriGen Group. The JV develops, finances, builds, operates and maintains rooftop solar photovoltaic systems ranging in size from 5 kW to 100 kW.

Mettle Solar CEO Francois van Themaat noted that the company had, to date, installed more than 11.2 MW of rooftop solar projects, with a further 9.8 MW of installations planned over the next year.

“The additional funding that this facility provides, marks the beginning of a partnership with Investec that will allow our business to grow from strength to strength, as we roll out both our grid-tied and off-grid solar solutions to shopping centres, factories, office blocks, warehouses, wine farms and hotel resorts throughout sub-Saharan Africa,” he noted.

The first advance under the facility will be used to refinance an operating portfolio of ten projects, with a combined capacity of about 5 MW.