Eksfin, (Export Finance Norway) has been at the heart of risk mitigation in Scatec's international expansion since 2010. Now Eksfin is supporting Scatec in building one of the world's largest combined solar and battery projects via a guarantee of NOK 1.2 billion. Scatec will build three power plants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, with a total installed capacity of 540 MW and 225 MW of battery capacity and total capital expenditure of close to USD 1 billion. This is the largest investment in Scatec's history and the first project of its kind for Scatec. The loan was provided by the Standard Bank of South Africa and the British development bank BII. In this case, Eksfin assisted with Nordea's guarantee to ensure that the construction of the power plant proceeds as agreed and that the owner's interest is paid. The guarantee is a prerequisite for obtaining loan financing and is therefore essential for the implementation of the project.
Eksfin contributed to increased financial capacity through the guarantee, which in turn meant that Scatec was able to undertake more projects and grow at a faster rate than would otherwise have been possible. In addition, Eksfin is involved in providing a number of guarantees to authorities, grid operators of completed power plants and to subcontractors of Scatecs. Since 2010, Eksfin has provided a total of NOK 7 billion in guarantees for the company's projects in various parts of the world. Scatec has been active in South Africa and has delivered six large power plants with a total installed capacity of 448 MW in that country.
India is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and there is a huge demand for green investments in the country. Now, Norway's state-owned developing country investment fund Norfund and insurance company KLP have invested a total of NOK 300 million in a solar project in the country. Norfund and KLP together hold a 49% stake in the Thar Suraya 1 project. The solar power plant is being built in Rajasthan by Enel Green Energy of Italy. When fully developed, the plant will be able to produce 750 GW p.a. This is the second green investment made by the Climate Investment Fund, which was established in May this year. The fund is owned by the government and managed by Norfund, which estimates that the project will avoid more than 615,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 316,000 Norwegian petrol cars. The fund plans to invest NOK 10 billion over the next five years. So far, they have identified the possibility of investing NOK 8 billion in eight countries. Because of the huge demand, the Norwegian Minister Tvinnereim said that he would not rule out the possibility of investing more money in the climate fund.
On 18 August, solar energy company Rec Solar sent repatriation and possible shutdown notices to its 250 employees in Kristiansand and Porsgrunn. The employees were told that the company could not continue to operate because of high electricity costs. With the same electricity consumption as in December and an average price of 258 Euros/MWh, this means that the electricity bill for July will be over NOK 59 million plus taxes. On 26 August, the company will make a decision on whether to shut down production for 26 weeks or permanently. A spokesperson confirmed to E24 that production will be temporarily shut down from 3 September. The spokesperson said that the company will start production in Norway again once the country's electricity prices normalise or if the Parliament takes steps to better support its clean energy industry. Trine Kopstad Berentsen, CEO of the industry's solar cluster, said the Government needs to act quickly to help Rec Solar through the crisis.
Sustainable Energy Solutions Sweden Holding AB published its half-yearly report for the period January 2022 to June 2022. The net sales for the period January to June 2022 amounted to SEK 11.5 million, a decrease of SEK 7 million compared to the same period last year. EBITDA was SEK -7.3 million with an operating loss SEK 15.5 million. SENS CEO, Henrik Boman, said that climate issues and the sustainable transition are, and still seem to be, major topics in today's news flow and SENS has an important role to play in achieving the transition to renewable energy production. The company is in an exciting growth phase and is ready to help interested markets that are preparing for a green transition and a more sustainable future.
The Nordic countries are some of the most dynamic and successful economies in the world. They are also leaders in sustainability, from renewable energy, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and the hydrogen economy, circular economy business models and battery development, the Nordics are pioneers in policy design, technology development and consumer uptake. Mundus Nordic Green News is covering this transition for the international community. Every day we curate the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. Mundus Nordic Green Indices summarise the meta-data from our daily coverage to enable easy tracking of trends. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary.