Italian firm gets R2.1bn loan to build SA wind farm

London - Enel Green Power SpA, the renewable-energy unit of Italy’s biggest utility, received a loan of R2.1bn to help pay for a wind farm it plans to build in the Eastern Cape.

KfW IPEX Bank GmbH, the export finance unit of Germany’s state-owned development lender KfW, provided the loan for Enel to construct the 111MW Gibson Bay wind farm that will comprise 37 turbines of 3MW megawatts each, Enel said by e-mail.

Enel also has started an “academy” that will train South Africans to install and sell small solar-power projects such as on home rooftops. It expects to have trained at least 1 000 people by June, Enel said in the statement.