The bank was originally set up as a part of the BRICS bloc.
In his week newsletter, the president reflected on South Africa's joining of the BRICS group of countries in 2010.
This comes as the country battles record unemployment of around 32.5%.
The government is either in talks with or plans to approach the International Monetary Fund, the New Development Bank (Brics bank)) as well as the World Bank for urgent funding.
The money is aimed at helping the country deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and offer relief from the social and economic impact.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa said that a R500 billion stimulus package was being made available by government to help the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister briefed reporters earlier on the R500 billion relief package, which would be used to circumvent the harsh impact of the pandemic.
South Africa was dealt the latest ratings blow on Friday, when Fitch placed the country two notches into junk.
The renewable energy integration and transmission augmentation project will be used to support the development of grid connection infrastructure as well as renewable energy to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels.
A bank official has told Reuters that $480 million is aimed at Eskom’s Medupi power station.
The parastatal's ailing infrastructure has set the scene for the country’s worst controlled power outages with stage 4 load shedding going on its sixth consecutive day.
Eskom has already used more than R5 billion in just under a year on diesel.
The bank offered the loan to the power utility to fund transmission lines to connect 500 megawatts of renewable energy from independent power producers to the national grid.
President Jacob Zuma says the African Regional centre of the Brics Bank should be able to extend loans to countries on the continent, to ensure development.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba briefs the media on South Africa's role in the New Development Bank.
