Standard Bank, Scatec and STANLIB set to revolutionise renewable energy access in South Africa

Lyra Energy offers a uniquely low-risk, flexible commercial proposition to the private sector in South Africa. It is a private power solution that offers distributed access to high-quality, affordable and predictable utility-scale renewable energy to medium and large commercial and industrial customers. Using the partners’ combined capacity in capital, expertise and customer reach, they will offer an unparalleled energy service trading platform to the market.

Standard Bank acted in its capacity as financial advisor and was instrumental to the establishment and incorporation of Lyra Energy, having been involved since inception. The bank will also act in its capacity as funder in the partnership and will be the lead debt funder to Lyra Energy.

The name is derived from the constellation, and Lyra signifies the partners’ dedication to illuminating a sustainable pathway for private sector power users in South Africa. Lyra Energy’s objective is to offer private power supply to the previously unserved segment of the commercial and industrial power users in South Africa, specifically those with significant electricity demands, and further aims to provide clients with green energy certifications that are key to achieving individual and global net zero targets.

Lyra Energy’s aggregator model will fund, build, own and operate generation assets. The energy from these projects will be transmitted (or ‘wheeled’) to multiple off-takers across the national grid. Private sector customers can expect increasing savings over time. The platform offers the benefits of large-scale renewable energy projects to smaller-to-medium scale users. These benefits serve to mitigate users’ cost of energy supply relative to the utility, as well as additional attributes of environmental credits and recognition of power expenditure in terms of preferential procurement requirements. Currently, Lyra Energy’s offering contributes to the green energy transition in South Africa and looks to eventually reduce the impact of loadshedding in South Africa.

Standard Bank is proud to participate in this groundbreaking partnership that will contribute towards unlocking further growth and innovation in the energy sector.