South African banking group Absa clinches the Impact project/investment of the year - renewables award for its work on Africa's largest standalone battery energy storage system (BESS), which enables grid stability and load balancing in South Africa.

The Red Sands BESS represents a landmark transaction under South Africa's Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (ESIPPPP), launched to facilitate private sector investment into South Africa's grid.

Located in the Northern Cape, the facility will connect to the Garona substation and deliver 153 MW of capacity to Eskom - the largest producer of electricity in Africa - under a 15-year capacity-based Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

Absa, together with another lender, acted as joint mandated lead arrangers, each contributing 50% of the total ZAR9.4 billion ($550 million) debt package. Absa's involvement spanned project finance lending, hedging, guarantees, and agency and account bank services.

The project delivers significant environmental and grid benefits by supporting load shifting, allowing energy to be stored during the day and dispatched during peak periods. It also contributes to GDP growth, promotes local procurement and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), and generates employment and skills development opportunities in the Northern Cape. The project also supports Absa's commitment to enabling a low-carbon transition and building climate resilience.

Judges commended the initiative, saying it was "exciting to see battery storage at scale in this market."