A new project by a group of South African developers was created to help people who want to invest in alternative energy with the condition of obtaining stable profits. As the developers themselves said, the new approach can lead to an increase in the share of renewable energy throughout the world and thus make a number of positive changes in people’s lives.
This is the Sun Exchange platform, which starts in 2015. It is worth noting that this platform is a campaign on Indiegogo. During the existence of the platform, it was possible to attract about 1.6 million dollars as seed funding. At the moment, the project is a narrowly focused marketplace, which allows you to buy equipment for solar facilities being built in areas with a high level of insolation. In addition, the site organizes the sale of generated energy to households, enterprises and urban neighborhoods directly.
A distinctive feature of this project is the possibility of investing in small scales. Similar sites exist around the world. Their main drawback is the need for large-scale financial investments. Sun Exchange involves the purchase of individual components of the SES (most often – photovoltaic modules) and obtaining a share of the profits of alternative production, depending on the investment. A project participant can remotely purchase one, two, ten panels and receive a steady income from generation within the solar power plant.
The work of the project is based on the crowdsale principle. The organization of interaction in this mode is very similar to crowdfunding platforms. The main difference is the use of digital assets instead of real money. The calculation of the cost of installation and rental is carried out automatically for each individual case individually.
During the purchase of a photovoltaic module for a specific project, the investor is given a separate serial number of its equipment. Each project participant has the right to choose the location of its equipment and a specific project for participation. There is an opportunity to visit the sunny park and see their solar panels.
The rules of the Sun Exchange platform work say that at any time an investor may optionally terminate the contract and request delivery of his solar equipment to his home. The only thing he has to pay in full the services of a logistics company. It is difficult to imagine how, in practice, the company will dismantle certain panels at the request of the client, but in the rules such item is indicated.
At this stage, within the framework of the platform, there are proposals for the purchase of photovoltaic modules for projects that will be implemented in the near future in South Africa. The immediate plans of the company are aimed at expanding the geography of activities and organizing projects on different continents. Development of a portfolio of investment proposals has not yet been completed.
The currency used to purchase solar equipment is currently bitcoin and rand (the local currency in South Africa). The founders of the platform consider cryptocurrency more convenient for payment. This is justified by the low price of interstate transfers. Payments made using Bitcoin, the creators of the platform is considered the fastest, cheapest and secure. Many people ask: “Why invest in just one or several solar panels?”. Platform developers claim that this way of investing gives a chance within a small budget to take part in a large project.
