SOUTH AFRICA: Decentral raises $12 million to provide solar to businesses

Good news for Decentral Energy Managers. The Johannesburg, South Africa-based company is getting $12.1 million to expand its project portfolio in South Africa. The company, co-led by Luel Culwick and Christian Bode, builds solar centers for commercial and industrial (C&I) clients. Companies like Decentral have become a key player in South Africa’s energy landscape since the country’s energy crisis began.

The crisis, which is manifested by the increase in load shedding, is partly due to the age of the power generation facilities operated by the state-owned company Eskom. Against this backdrop, Decentral has raised financing from the investment firm Lions Head Global Partners, the real estate development company Flyt Property Investment, the real estate and renewable energy investment firm Anuva Investments, as well as from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is investing in the project under the Power Africa initiative.

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Decentral will leverage these investments to finance new C&I transactions, primarily with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The company aims to develop between 45 and 50 MWp of installed capacity, benefiting at least 40 companies in South Africa.

Currently, the company has 10 MW of installed capacity of solar assets and claims 500 MW of assets under development across the rainbow nation. Decentral supplies this electricity primarily to customers in the retail, tourism, residential, commercial and industrial sectors. These key job-creating sectors are heavily impacted by load shedding. With the new investments, Decentral expects to contribute to the decarbonization of South Africa’s energy sector by reducing emissions by 328,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year.

Jean Marie Takouleu