R22 Million Avaiable For South African Solar Energy Project

Following up on its enablement through carbon credits of SA's first mass greening

project - with the instalation for 70,000 low income homes in Nelson Mandela Bay with water heating systems powered by solar energy, Standard Bank is to make available some R22 million so local service providers and manufacturers of the systems can continue to roll out the project.

The bank in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, International Carbon, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Solar Academy of Sub-Saharan Africa (SASSA), plan to help the government achieve it's aim to have 1million houses equipped with solar water heaters by 2014.

The project has been registered to earn carbon credits with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol allows industrialised countries to invest in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. This enables industrialised nations to sponsor a net global reduction in carbon emissions at a lower overall economic cost for themselves. The CDM EB issues carbon credits only once a carbon-reducing activity is completed.

Standard Bank is committed to making advance payments of up to R25 million to get the project underway. By hedging the price of the credits that will ultimately be sold by the bank in a market worth US$180 billion globally, the bank should make upwards of R140 million available for the continuation of the project over the next ten years.

Hedging the price has also protected the project from the fall in the value of carbon credits triggered by the European debt crisis. In providing the finance Standard Bank is working with the IDC, which is providing risk mitigation guarantees on R8 million, and International Carbon, which is completing CDM technical requirements.

It is a challenge to fund sustainable development using conventional financial instruments, but climate change poses a new challengee and has to be addressed using new methods, idea's and whatever tools are available.

Some creative financing in this sector is more than usually satisfying because it serves everyone, from grass roots to government. It uses the paper value of environmental financial instruments to unlock tangible financial value for people.

The Nelson Mandela Bay project, also proves to businesses and the everyday person in the street that you can make a difference to the environment by doing something as simple as installing a solar geyser, turning an environmental theory into a practical reality.

In under a year, the Nelson Mandela Bay project has surpassed all expectations, with some 70,000 solar water heaters having been installed to date.

by: Eco Push

POST COMMENT

Mobile Application Developer For Building And Designing New Apps For Mobile Market Hire A Nightclub Designer For Your New Venue Leverage Positive Reviews On Local Web Pages To Attract New Business From Joint Ventures New England Patriots Face New York Giants For First Time Since Super Bowl Xlii Save The Costs Of A New Computer By Building Your Own The Different Types Of Memory To Look For When Purchasing Your New Computer Magnetic Energy Generator - Exclusive Benefits Revealed Right Here Magnetic Energy Generator - Revealed Why I Chose A Magnet Generator For My Home Book A Holiday For The New Year Now And Beat The Winter Blues Is It Possible To Buy A Good Quality New Electric Guitar For Under £300? Look Beyond Christmas And The New Year To Grab A Chance Of A Great Bargain Family Holiday Preparing For A New School Year Hid Ballasts And Conversion Kits: Creating New Milestones Of Quality And Service