Cars.co.za invests $140k in Sun Exchange’s Solar Cells
To promote renewable energy in South Africa, solar leasing company Sun Exchange and online auto marketplace Cars.co.za have partnered. Today, Sun Exchange revealed that the automotive platform had invested in a project to supply Karoo Fresh, a commercial farm in South Africa’s Karoo province, with off-grid solar power and battery storage.
According to the solar leasing platform, by leveraging its balance sheet to purchase more than 16000 solar cells worth more than $140k (R2.5 million) through the Sun Exchange platform, Cars.co.za is promoting sustainable energy while generating a new source of revenue for its company over the 20-year lifespan of the solar project. Solar cells can be bought on the Sun Exchange marketplace and used to power homes, companies, and communities.
Users receive solar-powered rental revenue by leasing their Sun Exchange-purchased solar cells to hospitals, companies, schools, and other end users. It makes use of Bitcoin and Blockchain to improve transparency and lower the costs of cross-border transactions; two issues that prevent the bulk of commercial solar projects from being able to access conventional funding sources.
The 332.1kW solar plus 640kWh storage installation, which is currently producing electricity, is the first totally off-grid project for Solar Exchange, according to a release. The farm is able to increase the output of brassica and saffron while becoming more sustainable and reducing its dependency on expensive and polluting diesel power thanks to the project, which offers continuous, dependable solar power for Karoo Fresh’s irrigation system.
In September last year, the Ouut reported that Sun Exchange raised a $2.5 million Series A funding in form of a convertible note from ARPF, a Mauritian private equity fund advised by London-based ARCH Emerging Markets Partners to help it scale more quickly.
The new project, according to the company, is anticipated to replace roughly 90 000 liters of fuel annually, preventing an estimated 240 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, or over 960 000 kilometers, driven in an average passenger vehicle. According to Alastair MacMurray, co-founder of Cars.co.za, the company’s view that business can be a strong force for good is one of its key beliefs and essential to its culture.
“We’re proud to be associated with Sun Exchange and the Karoo Fresh solar project, as part of our vision at Cars.co.za to protect our environment and be a carbon-negative business. This project gave us the ability to align with a progressive business and effectively achieve our major environmental goals for 2022.”
“The Sun Exchange platform is all about enabling access to the benefits of the clean energy economy for all. With growing global focus on ESG [environmental, social and governance], this increasingly includes sustainability-minded companies that want opportunities to earn while making a positive impact,” says Abe Cambridge, chief executive officer of Sun Exchange.
More than 65 businesses, farms, schools, and other organizations in Southern Africa have access to solar power thanks to Sun Exchange, the company claims, since 2015. It states that more than 13 gigawatt hours of renewable energy have been produced by the company’s solar projects, preventing more than 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. The Sun Exchange platform is used by people and organizations from 180 different nations to purchase and own solar cells, generate clean electricity, and earn money.