Lodges, guesthouses & hospitality

Tourism solar grants, and when to be ready

The Green Tourism Incentive Programme runs in application windows. We will not tell you it is open. What we will do is have your pack ready for the day it is.

Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP)

Window unconfirmed

IDC / Department of Tourism

A grant toward energy and water efficiency for graded tourism operators, preceded by a resource efficiency audit the IDC funds in full.

Grant 50% to 90% of approved solutions, capped at R1,000,000

Applications:: GTIPapplications@idc.co.za
Enquiries:: gtip@idc.co.za

Tourism Transformation Fund

NEF / Department of Tourism

Grant capital combined with NEF debt or equity for 51%+ black-owned tourism enterprises providing services directly to tourists.

Every route open to you.

The same questions answered for each one, including the ones that rule it out. Anything not listed here is missing because this kind of business structurally cannot use it.

GTIP grant

A grant toward energy and water efficiency for graded tourism operators, after an IDC-funded audit.

Term: Not a loan — a grant, with a two-year implementation window
Rate: Not applicable
Deposit: You fund the balance above the grant
Ownership: You
Time to funding: Window-dependent, and no window is currently confirmed open
Water as well as energy: Yes — it is a resource efficiency programme, so solar water heaters, heat pumps and HVAC qualify alongside generation
Tax: Section 12B on the portion you own and pay for, subject to the same unresolved question about grant-funded cost
Carbon / I-RECs: Yours
Who qualifies: TGCSA-graded accommodation and conference venues. Scoring favours turnover below R5m and B-BBEE Level 1
Who it excludes: Tour operators outright, and ungraded accommodation

Worth knowing up front. R1m is the maximum GRANT, not the maximum project. The optimal project is around R1.1m, which at 90% draws the full grant; a larger project draws the same R1m at a collapsing percentage.

Tourism Transformation Fund

Grant capital alongside NEF debt or equity, for black-owned tourism enterprises.

Term: Set per transaction by the NEF
Rate: Set per transaction
Deposit: Transaction-dependent
Ownership: You
Time to funding: Months
Water as well as energy: Follows the underlying project
Tax: Section 12B on the portion you own
Carbon / I-RECs: Yours
Who qualifies: 51%+ black-owned tourism enterprises providing services directly to tourists
Who it excludes: Enterprises below the ownership threshold, and those not serving tourists directly

Asset finance

A term loan against the plant. You own it, and you owe for it.

Term: 3 to 7 years
Rate: Prime +1% to +4%, set by covenant strength and term
Deposit: Nil to about 10%
Ownership: You, from day one
Time to funding: Days to weeks
Water as well as energy: Yes — boreholes, storage, filtration, treatment and reuse fund on the same facility
Tax: Section 12B: 100% of qualifying cost deducted in year one, up to 1MW. Water equipment is not a 12B asset and falls under ordinary capital allowances instead
Carbon / I-RECs: Yours. You own the plant, so the I-REC or carbon benefit is yours to keep or sell
Who qualifies: Any trading entity with the cash flow to service it and something to secure it against
Who it excludes: Entities with no balance sheet to lend against — bodies corporate and HOAs — and businesses with no taxable income, for whom the allowance is worth little

Worth knowing up front. Declined on security is not the same as declined on affordability. The first can be fixed with a guarantee; the second cannot.

Rental

You rent the plant. The funder owns it and maintains it.

Term: 3 to 7 years
Rate: Embedded in the rental — quoted as a rand figure, not a rate
Deposit: None
Ownership: The funder, for the whole term
Time to funding: Days to weeks
Water as well as energy: Yes, on the same basis as energy
Tax: No Section 12B — you do not own the asset. The rental is generally deductible as an operating expense instead
Carbon / I-RECs: Usually the funder, as owner. Worth asking for explicitly if it matters to you
Who qualifies: Businesses that cannot or do not want to carry the asset on the balance sheet, and anyone with no taxable income to point an allowance at
Who it excludes: Nothing structural — but it costs more in total than owning

Worth knowing up front. Maintenance sits with the funder for the term, which is worth real money on a remote site. Insurance does not — you arrange that yourself.

PPA

You buy the electricity, not the system.

Term: 10 to 20 years
Rate: Embedded in the tariff, with an annual escalation
Deposit: None
Ownership: The provider, throughout
Time to funding: Weeks
Water as well as energy: Yes — the same structure exists for water as a Water Purchase Agreement, up to 10 years
Tax: No Section 12B for you. The provider owns the asset and claims it, which is part of how the tariff gets competitive. Your payments are deductible the way a municipal account is
Carbon / I-RECs: The provider, as owner
Who qualifies: Anyone with no capital, no tax appetite or no balance sheet — and bodies corporate, for whom it is usually the only workable structure
Who it excludes: Nothing structural, but it is the most expensive route across twenty years

Worth knowing up front. The escalation rate is the number that decides this deal. This market commonly runs 5% to 10% a year, and at 7% the payment roughly doubles over ten years. Get it in writing before you present it to anyone.

Water finance / WPA

The same structures applied to water: buy the equipment, or buy the water it delivers.

Term: Up to 10 years
Rate: Embedded, or priced as ordinary asset finance if you are buying
Deposit: None on a Water Purchase Agreement
Ownership: You if financed, the funder under a Water Purchase Agreement
Time to funding: Days to weeks
Water as well as energy: This is the water route — boreholes, pumps, storage, reticulation, filtration, treatment, reverse osmosis, greywater and reuse
Tax: Not Section 12B. That is an energy allowance; water equipment falls under the ordinary capital allowance rules for plant and machinery
Carbon / I-RECs: Not applicable, though a reduced pumping load changes the energy side
Who qualifies: Any site where water supply or quality is a constraint — and it can be bundled with the generation that runs it
Who it excludes: It cannot be funded inside the Agro Energy Fund, which covers the energy asset only

Window status: not confirmed

Window 10 closed on 28 February 2025 and window 11 has not been confirmed. Anyone telling you GTIP is currently open is telling you something they cannot know.

This page is therefore about what tourism operators have historically accessed and what to have ready for the next window — not a live application.

What GTIP has paid

A grant of 50% to 90% of approved solutions, capped at R1,000,000, plus a resource efficiency audit funded in full by the IDC. Over 216 applications approved for more than R140m since 2017, with R199m allocated in a single financial year.

R1m is the maximum grant, not the maximum project

Confirmed with the IDC directly, and it changes how you size. The optimal project is roughly R1.1m — at 90% that draws the full R1,000,000. A bigger project draws the same R1,000,000 at a collapsing percentage.

Projects can also be phased across a two-year implementation period, which is worth planning around rather than discovering.

How the two phases work

Phase one is the resource efficiency audit: the IDC appoints the assessor and pays for it in full. Phase two is the grant application itself, which needs three quotes.

There is no preferred installer or supplier database. You procure freely.

Who qualifies

It also covers water efficiency — solar water heaters, heat pumps and HVAC — which widens what a single site can spend the grant on.

TGCSA star grading is required for accommodation and conference venues
Tour operators are excluded outright — the programme funds fixed facilities
Tourism B-BBEE codes apply: EME from R0 to R5m turnover, QSE from R5m to R45m
Scoring favours turnover below R5m and B-BBEE Level 1

A warning worth repeating

The IDC and the Department of Tourism have both warned applicants about people claiming to represent the programme, and have stated that no agents or consultants have been appointed. That includes us. ArkFlow is not appointed by or affiliated with GTIP. We help you prepare; eligibility and approval rest entirely with the IDC, and you apply in your own name.

Water is often the bigger number on a lodge

GTIP is a resource efficiency programme, not a solar programme, so water sits inside the grant rather than beside it — solar water heaters, heat pumps and HVAC all count, which widens what a single site can put through one application.

Outside the grant, and between windows, water infrastructure finances on its own terms. A lodge off municipal supply is usually running a borehole, storage and some treatment already, and replacing that on a Water Purchase Agreement turns a capital problem into a per-kilolitre operating cost. Terms run up to ten years.

Boreholes, pumps and storage for sites off municipal supply
Filtration, treatment and reverse osmosis to potable standard
Greywater and reuse for gardens, laundry and ablutions
Solar water heating and heat pumps, which the grant also covers

What to do while the window is shut

The audit is the long pole, and nothing stops you doing the groundwork now: twelve months of electricity and water accounts, your TGCSA grading certificate, B-BBEE affidavit or certificate, and three quotes on a defined scope.

A pack assembled calmly over a few weeks beats one assembled in the fortnight after a window opens, and the scoring favours applicants who clearly know their own consumption.

Tell me when the window opens

Window 11 has not been confirmed. Leave your details and we will tell you the day it is — that is the whole email, and we do not use the list for anything else.

Good questions.

Does GTIP cover water as well as electricity?

Yes. It is a resource efficiency programme, so water efficiency measures qualify alongside generation — solar water heaters, heat pumps and HVAC among them. That materially widens what one site can spend a single grant on.

We are not on municipal water. Can that be financed?

Yes, and independently of the grant. Boreholes, storage, filtration and treatment finance on their own terms, including as a Water Purchase Agreement where you pay for the water delivered rather than buying the plant.

Is GTIP open right now?

We do not know, and neither does anyone telling you otherwise. Window 10 closed on 28 February 2025 and window 11 is unconfirmed. Join the window watch and we will tell you the day it changes.

Do I need to be star graded?

For accommodation and conference venues, yes — TGCSA grading is a requirement. Tour operators are excluded from the programme regardless.

What happens between windows?

Asset finance and PPAs are both available continuously. A lodge already running diesel usually finds the numbers work without waiting for a grant window at all.

Find what you qualify for →

Two minutes, free, and non-binding. Every answer carries a route, including the ones that rule a programme out.

Before you rely on any of this

ArkFlow is not accredited by, empanelled with, or appointed as an agent of Land Bank, the IDC, DALRRD, the Department of Tourism, SEDFA or the NEF. Government and DFI programmes are applied for by you. We help you prepare and submit; you remain the applicant.

ArkFlow is not a financial services provider and does not give financial advice, and is not a registered tax practitioner. Nothing on this page is a quote, an offer of finance, an approval, or a recommendation to enter into any credit agreement.

Programme terms, grant availability and application windows change without notice. Figures shown are indicative and depend on the administering institution’s own assessment and on funds available at the time. Where a programme runs in windows we will not describe it as open unless a current window is confirmed.