Japan is in talks with South Africa over potentially helping the country finance the reorganisation of its energy sector.

The funding, if implemented, would add to the as much as $150-million lent to the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa by Japanese institutions late last year for the funding of renewable energy projects.

“We are also exploring additional financing to South Africa for energy-sector reform,” Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokesperson, said in a November 22 interview on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg.

South Africa has already attracted billions of dollars in finance from countries including France and Germany as it seeks to shift its economy away from the use of coal, which supplies almost 80% of its electricity.

After years of intermittent power cuts the country is also trying to boost its renewable energy output to improve electricity supply security.

The earlier agreement was made up of as much as $100-million in finance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and $50-million from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.