Lekela, the renewable power generation company that delivers utility-scale projects across Africa, today announced the appointment of Bernard Kiernan as Head of Project Finance. A significant hire, Bernard will be responsible for the financial structuring of all business development investments and will manage all project finance arrangements.

Bernard has over 15 years’ experience in infrastructure and energy, holding a variety of investment roles throughout his career. Bernard has worked in the African energy sector for over 10 years, and has closed multiple complex projects, including 850MW of renewable energy projects in South Africa.

Prior to joining Lekela, Bernard was Investment Director at GreenWish Partners, responsible for business development in East Africa, North Africa and Nigeria. Before this, he was responsible for Mainstream Renewable Power’s commercial activities in Africa and the Middle East and was a key participant in the creation of Lekela. Bernard has also held roles at Kingspan PLC and KBC Project Finance.

Chris Antonopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of Lekela, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Bernard. He brings excellent skills shaping and securing the right project finance for what are complex, multi-faceted projects.

He will be particularly valuable as our pipeline of projects in South Africa, Ghana, Senegal and Egypt accelerates.”

Bernard Kiernan, Head of Project Finance at Lekela, said: “Project finance has an integral part to play in the delivery and execution of projects, ultimately helping support the growth of renewables across Africa. What attracted me to Lekela was the commitment as a long-term operator to delivering sustainable power to the continent, whilst also creating enduring value in the communities they operate.

I’m very much looking forward to joining at such an exciting time. With Senegal’s first utility-scale wind farm reaching financial close recently, and several more projects in late stage development, the next 12 months promise to be incredibly busy.”