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Fund manager Camco’s Spark Energy Services has started 2025 with a major deal to finance a multi-site energy efficiency initiative in Southern Africa.

Under the arrangement, Spark has agreed with its newest development partner, GreenYellow South Africa, to finance a portfolio of energy efficient lighting projects at 93 of Retailability’s retail stores. Retailability’s brands include Edgars, Legit and Keedo, among others.

The lighting projects span South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho, and involve replacing outdated and inefficient lighting systems with more cost effective and energy efficient LED solutions. The upgrades are expected to save approximately 17GWh of electricity generation.

GreenYellow South Africa provided the equity funding for the work and partnered with Spark to secure debt financing against the portfolio, optimising the capital structure.

As a proven operator in the clean energy transition, GreenYellow South Africa has a track record in optimising energy consumption across lighting, refrigeration and HVAC systems, ensuring measurable cost savings and sustainability gains for its customers. Through its fully funded Energy Efficiency Agreement, the company takes on the investment and implementation risk, allowing clients to benefit from energy savings without upfront capital expenditure. Building on this success, GreenYellow South Africa has set an ambitious target of deploying €10 million in energy efficiency projects this year.

Today’s announcement marks Spark’s first venture into Southern Africa’s energy efficiency sector and the first time Spark has worked with GreenYellow South Africa.

Through its partnership with Spark, GreenYellow South Africa is able to unlock access to streamlined finance specifically targeted at accelerating energy efficiency adoption in Southern Africa, which is a priority sector and region for both partners.

Spark director Adam Fitzwilliam said: “This landmark project underscores Spark and our partner GreenYellow's commitment to driving energy efficiency at scale across Southern Africa. “The breadth of this initiative – delivering substantial energy savings and emissions reductions across four countries – aligns perfectly with our joint ambition to accelerate the clean energy transition.”

GreenYellow South Africa director Michael Ilias said: “This partnership with Spark marks a significant milestone for GreenYellow South Africa as we continue to expand our efforts in driving energy efficiency across the region.

“By combining our expertise in sustainable energy solutions with Spark’s innovative financing model, we’ve implemented impactful upgrades that not only lower energy costs for Retailability but also contribute to the company’s broader sustainability goals. We’re proud to lead this initiative and remain committed to accelerating the energy transition in South Africa.”

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Camco's Spark in Southern Africa energy…