The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) reports that 15 renewables refinancing applications have been approved under an initiative launched in October 2019 that sought to reduce tariffs arising from private generators procured during the initial bidding rounds of the renewables procurement programme.
The department claims that the refinancing concluded to date will result in nominal savings of about R4-billion over the remaining terms of the respective power purchase agreements.
It also announced, however, that it would be updating the refinancing protocol to reduce limits on the type of funding targeted for refinancing, and to provide guidance for projects intending to refinance by accessing capital market instruments.
The updated version, which will be published on the IPP Office website, will replace the previous version and issued guidance notes.
“It will therefore be the guideline applied by Sellers and projects in preparing their refinancing applications going forward from the earlier of either the date of publishing or 31 March 2023,” the DMRE said in a statement.
It encouraged independent power producers that prevailed during bid windows 1 to 4 “to continue participating in this initiative to maximize the benefits to the consumer through tariff reductions”.