Africa GreenCo Group, together with its Lusaka-based operating company GreenCo Power Services (GreenCo), has announced that the Executive Committee of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) approved the admission of GreenCo as a full member of the SAPP under the category of Market Participant with effect from 8th October 2021.
“We are extremely grateful to the SAPP team and the existing SAPP members for their trust and support of innovative new business models such as GreenCo and look forward to working alongside the industry leaders as the market grows from strength to strength. We are particularly grateful to ZESCO who have worked closely with us throughout and who supported our membership application.”
Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is the regional power pool of the SADC region which enables trade between its interconnected members. It was established in 1995 by its twelve member countries, which are represented by their respective electric power utilities. Five additional IPPs and transmission companies were admitted between 2010-2018. GreenCo is proud to be SAPP’s 18th member and the first admitted as a Market Participant.
SAPP membership is a key factor in enabling GreenCo to act as a creditworthy buyer and trader of renewable energy and to play a transformative role in mobilising significant private sector investment in renewable energy, strengthening the national and SAPP electricity markets and facilitating a shift away from the current single buyer model which places heavy financial burdens on governments and utilities.
The region is in urgent need of more energy generation capacity to harness its enormous renewable energy potential, to support economic recovery and provide clean and affordable energy to its citizens.
READ: Bosch Rexroth South Africa invests in renewable energy
GreenCo’s model offers key innovations in the architecture of the electricity market and enhances value – with more electricity generation and improved security of supply – in partnership with established industry players. GreenCo will be offering various power services and will support small-medium sized renewable energy IPPs with access to the SAPP and national markets. GreenCo will mitigate the risk of purchaser payment default through an ability to secure alternative buyers or through short-term trading on the SAPP electricity markets and via its provision of a substantial liquidity buffer.
Commencing operations in Zambia, GreenCo will contribute towards the implementation of the Government of Zambia’s vision for the green economy and a sustainable electricity sector. This represents an important step in scaling-up renewable energy investment to help mitigate climate change and increase efficiency in the power sector.
“We would in particular like to thank our current investors the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) and PIDG’s InfraCo Africa (funded by the governments of the United Kingdom (through FCDO), the Netherlands (through DGIS) and Switzerland (through SECO) for supporting us and for focusing on delivering true systemic change on the ground. We are also grateful to the EU-funded Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI) who are considering supporting us via our second financial close planned for the end of this year.”
GreenCo’s innovative business model was incubated with grant funding and strategic input from The Rockefeller Foundation, Convergence and P4G. GreenCo also benefits from the support of SADC PPDF (funded by KfW and the EU) via the Development Bank of Southern Africa and USAID’s Power Africa, of which GreenCo is a private sector partner. Invaluable support has also been provided to GreenCo by Agence Française de Developpement (AFD) and the European Commission.