Lyra Energy, the South African renewable energy platform owned by Scatec and STANLIB Infrastructure Investments, has secured a payment guarantee facility backed by the Norwegian state under Norad’s Sovereign Guarantee Scheme for Renewable Energy.
The facility is designed to mitigate payment risk within Lyra’s trading structure and strengthen the bankability of its commercial and industrial offtake portfolio.
The guarantee gives lenders a more efficient basis for assessing payment risk across Lyra’s portfolio of corporate customers as the company works to expand renewable power generation and electricity trading in South Africa.
The facility is not project funding, a grant or a subsidy to Lyra’s shareholders. It does not guarantee project returns. Instead, it is designed to mobilise private capital and support the growth of the renewable energy market.
Eben de Vos, Head of Lyra Energy, said the facility would strengthen the company’s ability to participate in South Africa’s changing electricity market.
“Energy traders and aggregators have an important role to play in the liberalisation of South Africa’s electricity market,” de Vos said.
“This guarantee facility from Norad further enhances the robustness of our balance sheet and the resilience of our trading platform. It is also an important vote of confidence in Lyra’s business model, our governance, and the trajectory of the platform we are building.”
De Vos said the facility would also help Lyra contract electricity in a way that better reflects the requirements of commercial and industrial customers.
“By providing a clearer route to market for our projects, this instrument supports the scaling of our trading platform and new renewable energy generation and enables Lyra to contract power in the way commercial and industrial customers actually need,” he said.
Building a renewable energy trading platform
Lyra was launched in 2024 to aggregate electricity demand from medium and large commercial and industrial users and convert that demand into utility scale renewable generation.
Scatec and STANLIB Infrastructure Investments are co shareholders in the platform.
In 2025, Lyra secured an electricity trading licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), allowing it to buy bulk electricity from its generation assets and sell portions to commercial and industrial customers through the regulated wheeling framework.
Its first project, the 255 MW Thakadu solar power plant, reached financial close on March 6, 2026 and is currently under construction.
The project is being financed through non recourse project debt and shareholder equity, with Standard Bank of South Africa acting as senior lender. Scatec is providing engineering, procurement and construction services, as well as asset management and operations and maintenance services.
Commercial operations are expected to begin in the first half of 2027.
The new guarantee facility therefore comes at a point when Lyra is moving from establishing its trading platform towards expanding the renewable generation capacity that will underpin its customer offering.
Norwegian guarantee aims to unlock private investment
Norad’s Sovereign Guarantee Scheme for Renewable Energy is a five year pilot with a total facility of NOK5 billion.
Norad describes the scheme as a financial instrument rather than traditional grant aid. Recipients pay a guarantee premium and administration costs, while the scheme covers up to 50% of the risk exposure under a tranche. The remaining risk is carried by professional co guarantors.
Sub Saharan Africa receives special consideration under the scheme.
The first guarantee agreement under the initiative was signed in December 2025 alongside Sweden and Denmark and was issued to the Inter American Development Bank.
Norwegian Ambassador to South Africa, H.E. Anne Beathe Kristiansen, said innovative approaches to risk were needed to unlock the investment required for renewable energy development.
“South Africa has significant potential to expand renewable energy, but mobilising the capital needed to do so requires innovative approaches to managing risk. Norway’s guarantee scheme is intended to help address those barriers and catalyse private investment,” Kristiansen said.
“The Lyra transaction demonstrates how Norwegian public financial capacity can support private sector investment in South Africa’s growing renewable energy market,” she said.
Electricity market opening creates new opportunities
The guarantee comes as South Africa’s electricity market moves towards greater competition.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act provides for a competitive electricity market and an independent transmission company, while NERSA has been consulting on the rules governing electricity trading.
Lyra is among the electricity traders licensed under the emerging framework.
For the company, the guarantee addresses one of the key constraints facing the expansion of electricity trading, namely the ability to manage payment risk in a way that supports investment in new generation capacity.
The development also highlights the growing role of energy traders and aggregators in connecting renewable energy generation with the changing needs of commercial and industrial electricity users.
As South Africa seeks to increase renewable generation while creating a more competitive electricity market, instruments that can reduce risk and attract private capital could play an increasingly important role in turning licensed trading capacity into new renewable energy projects.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za