Standard Bank enables Seriti Green’s Mpumalanga based Ummbila Emoyeni to increase generation capacity, create jobs and economic opportunity

Acting as a joint mandated lead arranger, Standard Bank played a central role in delivering the project financing for Seriti’s second phase of Ummbila Emoyeni. In addition to providing the Senior Project Finance debt, the bank has also provided direct equity investments and facilities to support project’s shareholder equity funding. 

“The partnership with Seriti Green is in line with our business commitment to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. Through this transaction, we are directly contributing to the transformation of South Africa’s energy landscape by facilitating the rollout of renewable energy facilities in South Africa’s energy heartland, Mpumalanga. We are excited to be part of delivering Seriti Green’s journey of building renewable energy solutions that are clean, secure and inclusive while sustaining the economy,” said Standard Bank Energy and Infrastructure Finance Executive Nicholas Knott-Craig. 

Standard Bank has provided ZAR 2.45 billion of the overall R4.9 billion debt funding that was provided to Seriti Green’s second phase of the project. Additionally, Standard Bank’s investment alongside shareholders and shareholder funding added R330m of equity into project. This enables a 155 MW utility-scale wind farm, that is the next cornerstone in Seriti Green’s Ummbila Emoyeni wind cluster.

The wind farm increases Seriti Green’s capacity to a total of 310 MW of installed, following the successful close of Ummbila Emoyeni phase one in 2024. 

This project represents one of the largest private wind initiatives in South Africa, and with a further 465MW of wind generation planned in the future.

Energy produced at the wind farm will be sold under a long-term offtake agreement exclusively to Energy Exchange of Southern Africa (“EXSA”), a subsidiary of Remgro. This marks the first utility-scale generation project secured by EXSA, signalling a major new entrant in the private energy trading space.

“Standard Bank has been the leading financer on all of Seriti Green’s projects to date and this long-standing partnership has essentially assisted Seriti Resources and Seriti Green as the business evolved taking on the Just Energy Transition journey in alignment to South Africa’s Net Zero goals. We are extremely proud of our long-term strategic partnership with Standard Bank and are looking forward to working together to bring more mega-projects online” said Peter Venn, Seriti Green’s Chief Executive Officer. 

The project is based in Mpumalanga, which is a province that has traditionally been reliant on the coal mining industry. Seriti’s second phase of Ummbila Emoyeni’s development is set to create over 800 jobs during its construction phase and provide youth skills training opportunities for future careers. Local businesses will also benefit from this development, strategically allowing the shift to new energy sources to empower and uplift the community in the process, setting them up for success in the new age of the energy industry. 

“As Africa’s leading financier, it gives us immense pride to have worked with Seriti Green on this project as we bring to life one of the largest wind farms in the country whilst elevating emerging energy participants in the sector,” concluded Knott-Craig. 

The project is expected to commence production in the second half of 2027.