…Boosted by the government’s Energy Bounce-Back (EBB) Loan Scheme.
Standard Bank has reported a surge in demand for solar and energy-related products following the National Treasury’s launch of its incentivised loan scheme last year.
Africa’s biggest bank expects solar demand to continue.
“From a financing perspective, Standard Bank has seen a big increase in green solution funding. The bank has led a concerted effort to disburse funds to individuals in South Africa for installing solar solutions or purchasing ‘green-aligned’ homes,” the banking giant’s head of LookSee Marc Du Plessis said in a statement.
“The total green lending book has grown by over 26% to R2.9 billion, with over R1.2 billion being added in 2023,” added Du Plessis.
Standard Bank is one of the participants in government’s Energy Bounce-Back (EBB) Loan Scheme, through its solar loans initiative LookSee.
The scheme is aimed at helping relieve small businesses and households of the load shedding burden, which has been estimated to cost the country’s economy billions of rands in lost productivity.
The scheme incentivises the generation of 1000 MW of energy, with the use of renewable energy sources, by offering households loans of between R3 000 and R300 000, while small businesses can access between R10 000 and R10 million.
To facilitate greater take-up of the offering, government agreed to cover the first 20% of defaults on solar loan books, allowing banks to maintain interest rates relatively low.
“This means you can finance your solar system as well as the costs of installation. The interest rates for the solar loan starts at Prime +1% and capped at Prime +2.5%, which further increases affordability, with up to 60 months to pay,” noted Du Plessis.
Absa, FNB and Nedbank are also participating in the EBB loan scheme administered by the South African Reserve Bank. – moneyweb.co.za
