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The US Army is actively using renewable energy sources

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The US Army is actively using renewable energy sources

In June 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, the largest US army base, Fort Hood, Texas, began to cover half of its needs with renewable energy. This is only one of the projects in the field of renewable and alternative energy sources, developed, implemented and controlled by the Military Energy Initiatives Initiative (OEI), carried out in the framework of public-private partnerships. A portfolio of projects manned by OEI can generate about 300 megawatts of power.

The first steps to develop alternative sources of energy were taken by the US military as early as 2007. Then Republican President George W. Bush signed a law committing the Pentagon by 2025 to receive a quarter of the energy used by buildings from renewable sources.

Work on renewable energy is gaining momentum with the arrival of Barack Obama in the place of US President. Then the task of the army, the ground forces, the air force and the fleet was the development of technologies to produce renewable energy and striving for a value of 1 gigawatt, as well as the development of new solutions that allow powering combat vehicles with energy. From the time of the First World War, when cars were commissioned, a potential shortage of fuel could determine the fate of individual battles.

According to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Defense, in 2007 alone, 24 convoys were attacked in Afghanistan, and almost 40 convoys with fuel for US bases and military units were attacked in Iraq, leading to the death or serious injury of American soldiers. In war zones, green energy can save the lives of both sides of an armed conflict, because it reduces the number of columns supplying, for example, diesel fuel for generators at US bases. In addition, electric cars or a hybrid drive allow soldiers to safely move around enemy territory. In the sea, gas-electric hybrids not only save fuel, but also reduce the number of stops needed to fill fuel tanks, during which people are vulnerable to attack.

Green Energy supplies US bases and ships

In 2007-2015, oil consumption by the American army decreased by more than 20 percent. However, traditional military fuel suppliers such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell will not lose their contracts, even if the army accelerates work leading to the abandonment of fossil fuels. “As we change our fuel plans, we will adapt and continue to provide our customers with the products they need,” a BP Reuters spokesman said, answering questions about the potential impact of the growing use of renewable fuels by the US military. In 2007-2015, the average annual cost of purchasing fuel for US troops was approximately $ 14.28 billion.

The struggle for the energy independence of US Army soldiers is not only associated with a direct battlefield. The flagship project currently being implemented by the OIE is the construction of a hybrid, solar and wind installation in Fort Hood, Texas, consisting of 63,000 solar panels located at the base, and 21 wind turbines installed outside.

The base can now produce up to 65 megawatts of power. The transition from fossil fuels to wind and solar energy is designed to protect this base, which has 36,500 active employees and about 6,000 buildings. Previously, about 77 percent of the energy consumed by the infrastructure at Fort Hood accounted for fossil fuels.

The implementation of the largest renewable energy project in the US Army saves about $ 2 million a year on electricity. Over the next 30 years, savings are expected to reach $ 100 million.

Solar power – impressive projects in the Middle East

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Solar power – impressive projects in the Middle East

Over the next fifteen years, the share of renewable energy in the Middle East may increase more than threefold. And all this thanks to the impressive photovoltaic projects. Falling costs, healthy competition, fluctuating oil prices and the ever-growing demand for electricity are factors that contribute to the further impressive growth of solar energy in the region.

Some reports indicate that in the Middle East, the share of renewable energy sources is expected to double from 5.6% in 2016 to 20.6% in 2035. Achieving such goals will require significant investment in renewable energy projects in the region.

The world’s largest photovoltaic power plant is already located in Abu Dhabi and this is just the beginning. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia remain at the forefront of large-scale photovoltaic projects on an industrial scale, and neighboring countries are pursuing them. Most countries in the Middle East now have ambitious national renewable energy targets.

A large project is currently under construction for a photovoltaic power station in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Its capacity will be almost 1.2 GW. The next part of the project will be commissioned later this month. Upon completion of the investment, it is expected that it will become the world’s largest photovoltaic plant. It is assumed that the power plant will be able to generate enough energy to provide nearly 200,000 homes.

The third stage of Mohammed bin Rashid’s Solar Park is 75% of renewable energy in Dubai! Dubai, thanks to Mohammed bin Rashid Park, currently has the world’s largest sunny park. Due to this, Dubai by 2020 should reach 7% of clean energy, and by 2030 – 25%.

While most of the renewable energy facilities installed by 2030 will be produced as part of the development of Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park, Dubai has set another goal – to produce 75% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2050.

RES is a way to reduce energy prices. While large utilities are dominant in the renewable energy industry in the region, companies operating in the Middle East are looking for ways to reduce their electricity costs, since the governments of the countries in the region are abandoning fossil fuel subsidies.

Saudi Arabia has set itself an ambitious task of adding 9.5 GW of renewable energy by 2023, and it is expected that next year it will offer 3.25 GW of photoelectric energy.

Oman seeks to reach 10% share of renewable energy by 2025. He recently announced a second solar project with a capacity of 500 MW-1 GW. It is expected that work on it will begin by 2021.

Egypt remains an active market. The success began thanks to about 1.5 GW of solar projects. At the end of last year, Egypt announced an auction for the construction of a 600 MW power plant in the West Nile region.

Mechanical Leaves – Energy for Martian Missions

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Mechanical Leaves – Energy for Martian Missions

A new design based on aspen leaves can help provide strong support for future missions to Mars, say engineers and scientists from the University of Warwick.

Engineers often take inspiration from nature. This is not surprising, since evolution has developed optimal solutions for many different problems over the years. Researchers from Warwick found a new possible source of backup power for future planetary missions, based on a rather atypical source: quivering aspen leaves (aka quivering poplars).

In nature, plant leaves can shiver themselves – this is one of the ways to thermoregulate them. Although the absorption of sunlight by them is necessary to start the process of photosynthesis, overheating of the leaves, which may occur due to too much heat absorption, can also stop the whole process. In particular, the leaves of aspen poplars are trembling very noticeably, but this movement, according to scientists, is not aimed at producing energy. This may be due to the cooling of the trees.

In recent years, students from Warwick have studied this seemingly simple movement of the leaves. Then scientists from the same university went even further by conducting special tests to check whether a single mechanism of shaking leaves efficiently generates energy, including for human needs.

It has been proven that the mechanism demonstrated by aspen leaves really works and can generate electricity even without the presence of strong wind. This means that it will probably also work on Mars, a planet with a thin atmosphere, in which the horizontal “air” movement is rather weak, so the wind usually does not have much power.

It turns out that aspen leaves under a weak wind are shaking much longer – mainly because of the flat shape of their petioles. Researchers are now trying to reproduce the same structure using a cantilever beam, which acts as a flat leaf barrel, while a specially designed curved blade mimics the sheet itself in this model. The resulting design moved with a weak wind easier than the narrowed screws, traditionally used to generate energy from the wind. The team did not even have to duplicate the complex rotation of the leaf trunk – it was enough to simply recreate the curved leaf and its flat tail.

The main advantage of the new solution from the point of view of the study of other planets and hard-to-reach parts of the Earth, explains the main author of the work Sam Tucker Harvey, is a method of generating energy without using mechanical bearings that can stop working at extremely low temperatures and also become easily covered with dust and sand.

Although the amount of energy produced in this way is very small, it can efficiently power, for example, wireless sensors, including weather sensors, installed in such remote places as the Arctic or Antarctica, or in places where solar energy production is inefficient. Such a source of energy could theoretically save the solar rover Opportunity, which was the victim of a dust storm on Mars in 2018.

The next step is to develop a similar energy production system that can be deployed on a larger scale. This will probably take some time, but one day the planetary rovers will be equipped with standard “quivering leaves” power sources.

PKN Orlen measures wind measurements in the Baltic Sea. Where will the wind farm stand?

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PKN Orlen measures wind measurements in the Baltic Sea. Where will the wind farm stand?

Baltic Power, owned by PKN Orlen, is studying the environmental conditions and windiness in the Baltic Sea. The company wants to build a wind farm by the sea.

Approximately 30 km from the coastline, at the height of the Stilo lighthouse, a laser measuring device was installed, the so-called “buoy with a lidar”. The device collects information about the strength of the wind. Orlen wants to determine the potential of the planned investments related to wind energy. A lidar buoy measures not only wind strength, but also air humidity, atmospheric pressure, temperature, electrolytic conductivity and water flow directions, as well as fluctuations. It is powered by fuel cells using ethanol and photovoltaic cells.

Clean energy source

Representatives of the company indicate that they are looking for new green solutions. Offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea can be a very promising source of clean energy, as part of our strategy for low carbon energy commitment, ”says Jaroslav Dybowski, energy executive director at PKN Orlen.

The Orlen Group is licensed to the Baltic Sea, where it can build a marine wind power plant with a capacity of up to 1,200 MW. Over the next months, the company will measure wind parameters such as speed, direction, strength and turbulence.

The device detects laser beams reflected from air molecules, so that it can measure wind parameters at various levels, up to 300 meters above the sea surface.

“The data obtained will not only be the basis for assessing the investment potential of the project, but will also be recognized by financial institutions as the basis for deciding on its possible financing,” adds Dybowski.

Boom for wind farms

Offshore wind farms were built in Europe for about 10 years, Denmark and the UK were pioneers in this area, but Germany quickly joined them, and it is these three countries that have the largest number of marine farms in Europe. They are built by the sea because coastal winds are stronger and more predictable than land winds. Such farms generate more electricity because they use larger windmills.

The boom for this type of investment is currently in the seas and oceans of the whole world. Wind farms put China and the United States, and at the beginning of the year the Dutch company TenneT announced that by 2027 it intends to build the world’s largest wind power plant in the shallow North Sea, which will supply electricity to consumers in the Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and Denmark.

The Spanish-German manufacturer of wind turbines Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has signed a preliminary agreement with the French wind power plant operator Eolien Maritime France (EMF) for the supply of infrastructure for offshore wind farms with a total capacity of about 1000 MW, writes Renewable Energy World. The order concerns two of three projects of this type, which are currently being developed by the French operator. SWT-7.0-154 DD turbines are likely to be assembled by the Spaniards at sea.

SGRE plans to place production of equipment for the implementation of this project at its plant in the port of the French city of Le Havre. Marcus Tache, head of SGRE, said that the contract with EMF confirms the role of the company’s leader in the French market and will allow the further development of manufacturing enterprises in Le Havre.

Wind power is gaining momentum slowly but surely. Offshore WPP is a new development of this sphere.

Poles massively install photovoltaic modules on high-rise roofs

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Poles massively install photovoltaic modules on high-rise roofs

They have turned multi-storey houses into a solar power station and are not worried about the price of electricity. The economic balance is satisfactory. In 2017, solar panels appeared on the roofs of 35 blocks of the Wroclaw-Poludnevsky housing cooperative. After more than a year of energy production, the installation of the panels was considered successful.

The housing cooperative of Wroclaw-Noon in 2017 made a decision on innovative investments. Solar panels were installed on the roofs of 35 blocks. The goal was to reduce the cost of electricity and improve the environment.

According to the RES World website, the Wroclaw experiment after more than one year of operation can be rated as successful. The amount of energy is 10 percent more than originally estimated. Through the use of panels, 557 tons of carbon dioxide did not enter the atmosphere.

“The economic balance is also satisfactory, so we will not stop there. We are planning to expand the power plant and further environmental projects, ”says Jozef Snezhek, President of Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa Wrocław-Południe.

They do not worry about electricity prices. Wroclaw’s investments turned out to be particularly accurate in light of the expected increase in electricity charges.

“The most important thing is that today, thanks to the production of their own energy, residents will not feel the rise in electricity prices. For example, if the market price rises by 40 percent, our residents will feel financially very comfortable, because prices will rise by only 10 percent for them, ”adds Snowballs. It is about the price of energy, which is used to power elevators, corridors and residential complexes.

Three thousand batteries installed on the roofs will reduce electricity bills for 15 thousand residents of the capital of Lower Silesia. The power plant capacity is about 0.75 MW. Renewable energy – 700,000 kWh annually – will be used to illuminate the common parts of the buildings, the elevator, the hydraulic harness, and the electrical equipment. The savings will be significant – the electricity bill will be lower by about 335 thousand zlotys. Investment in the project amounted to 4.2 million zlotys – 1.1 million US dollars. 2.5 million zlotys of the Environment Protection Fund transferred in the framework of the loan, 1.7 million zlotys as co-financing.

“This is a unique project on a national scale and, maybe, even in Europe, because no other city has such a large number of solar power plants. They were not created in the fields, but on the roofs of buildings. They did not require the construction of large energy networks. These panels are not visible from the outside, and we did not need to build transformer stations. Therefore, the project is neutral for the environment and urban space ”- Marek Dera, vice president of the housing and construction cooperative Wroclaw-Half-Day.

Wroclaw investments are not the only ones that the country has a right to be proud of. According to official data, the largest solar power station in Europe is being built there. 30,000 photovoltaic panels should provide 20 percent of the energy consumed by city residents.

Poland wants energy from the sun. The past year has been successful for the photovoltaic industry, and the prospects for the following years are positive. The Ministry of Energy wants to increase the capacity of solar power plants in Poland by 2020. They should produce 1000 MW.

According to the Polish Photovoltaic Society, 153 MW of total installed capacity in photovoltaics are currently installed in Poland, there are more than 11,200 household systems with a total capacity of over 62 MW, the largest of which was installed in the first half of 2016.

Oblenergo of the Odessa region does not allow citizens to install meters for the “green” tariff of domestic production. Which side is true?

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Oblenergo of the Odessa region does not allow citizens to install meters for the “green” tariff of domestic production. Which side is true?

Everyone knows the situation when Oblenergo refuses to issue electricity meters of Ukrainian production and offers, as an alternative, devices of Czech or Swiss production. The argument is simple to the pain – imported devices supposedly work better.

In order not to be unfounded, we will try to figure out how to choose the meter under the “green” tariff and whether there is a difference in functionality between foreign and domestic measuring devices.

Before approval of the meter for the “green” tariff in the project of the power plant, the owner must select the device that meets the requirements of a particular station. It should be noted that the recommendations of the regional power company also appear here and the majority of citizens do not dare to ignore them. The question is, are the counters of Ukrainian manufacturers suitable for home SES?

The question is, in fact, rhetorical. Production of meters for the “green” tariff sharpened by the realities of our country. Manufacturers are trying to expand the model range of meters so that the consumer has the opportunity to choose the most suitable device for his solar station. In this case, emphasis is placed on the price-quality ratio.

Each owner of SES has its own balance, where the meter sends data on the amount of generated energy and the amount used. At the end of each month, the owner of the home solar power station receives a payment that is equivalent to the amount of electricity supplied to the network. The energy used for the home is subtracted from the total.

Ukrainian manufacturers provide citizens with the opportunity to buy a bidirectional meter designed for operation in a network or hybrid power plant. Models of such meters differ in the set of functional positions and price. For example, you can buy a Swiss or Czech counter for no less than 7-10 thousand hryvnias, while a counter of a domestic manufacturer with the same technical specifications will cost you 3-5 thousand. Tangible difference, is not it?

The main argument of the oblenergo regarding the impossibility of installing meters for the “green” tariff of Ukrainian production is their low quality. Counters made in Switzerland or the Czech Republic allegedly better. We propose to focus on the service life and warranty obligations of manufacturers. Both Ukrainian and foreign manufacturers offer devices whose service life is in the range of 10-15 years.

A natural question arises: “Why pay more with the same quality and technical characteristics of the devices?”. Indeed, no need. The support of the domestic manufacturer only expands the possibilities of production and enhances the prestige of alternative energy in our country. In addition, funds from the sale of Ukrainian meters are floated in circulation and improve the conditions of technical maintenance of stations.

Is it possible to choose a meter for the “green” tariff, based on common sense and personal preferences, and not on the recommendations of the regional power company? The answer lies in the resolution NKREKU №170 dated February 27, 2014. The third section of the decree contains specific requirements for measuring devices:

1. Making calculations in two directions (accounting for electricity generated and consumed).

2. Availability of a remote reading system for meter readings produced using the AMR communication channel.

3. The presence of an interface for transmitting information regarding the volume and direction of electricity flows.

4. Compliance with the requirements of Oblenergo and its location in the State Register of measuring devices of Ukraine.

If the meter for the “green” tariff fully meets the requirements, then the citizen himself has the right to choose the manufacturer.

Startup company Paragraf will help to establish the production of graphene on an industrial scale

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Startup company Paragraf will help to establish the production of graphene on an industrial scale

The creators of Paragraf are Cambridge workers. They own the discovery of the method of industrial production of graphene.

At this stage, people from the University of Cambridge create special plates of graphene, the diameter of which does not exceed 20 centimeters. A startup from Paragraf will use them as a component of transistors.

A new method of producing graphene on an industrial scale will make it possible to organize the mass production of high-power processors – their performance will exceed the power of silicon analogues by 10 times. The first batch of electronics with elements of graphene will be released soon.

Graphene made a splash in the scientific community when it opened in 2004. The unique features of this material were evaluated in full, and many institutes and laboratories began to work on searching through its most efficient use. The fact is that graphene is 200 times stronger than steel, and indicators of the efficiency of conducting electricity are 10 times higher than that of copper. The electrical conductivity of this innovative material is 250 times higher than that of silicon.

To date, scientists are working on finding budget ways to get graphene. Making it on a production scale is too expensive from a financial point of view. Partly, graphene is used to create batteries, and in the near future it is planned to release aircraft fuselages of this material.

Representatives of the company Paragraf argue that graphene released as part of their startup can be used to produce sensors of the chemical and electrical type. The use of this material in the manufacturing process of sensors will make their sensitivity indicators 30 times higher.

The company Paragraf said that their technology of production of large quantities of graphene – is unique. No one has so far succeeded, without loss of quality, in creating plates of such a diameter. It is worth noting that in the laboratory, members of the group of inventors use graphene flakes, because they are much easier to produce.

The official website of the Paragraf company contains information on the possibility of using graphene plates for the production of touchscreens, photovoltaic modules and sensors. The technology itself is kept secret and is described only by common phrases. According to the creators of the startup, a new method of manufacturing graphene can help translate the great ideas of science fiction into reality.

The secrecy in the wording of the new technology did not prevent the Paragraf company from receiving about 4 million dollars of investments at the beginning of last year. It should be noted that most of the funding was provided by the University of Cambridge. This practice for the school – a common thing. Many projects of university members were funded that way.

 Graphene helped a group of scientists from China create all-weather solar panels. Innovation is a device that can receive energy from sunlight and rain drops with equal efficiency. It is a graphene film that allows you to generate energy from falling drops. Photovoltaic modules of Chinese scientists have become a miracle of modern technology thanks to the Gretzel cell.

It’s too early to talk about mass production and production of all-weather solar panels. This technology is still undergoing a series of necessary studies and tests. Many skeptics say that with an increase in the number of electric cars, humanity will need to increase the power of “non-environmental” energy production. The use of graphene in the production of solar panels and electric vehicles can provide tangible assistance in solving this issue.

Autonomous houses on the water – a project of the Dutch company

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Autonomous houses on the water – a project of the Dutch company

The + 31Architects company from Holland, successfully working in the field of architecture, has created a prototype of a new house. Autonomous housing is able to receive energy from solar panels, fully satisfying their energy needs. The feasible assistance in the implementation of this project to the Dutch engineers is provided by a company from Germany. Such an international scientific tandem of the two companies should provide the first prototypes of houses until the end of this year.

It is planned to release two versions of autonomous houses. They will be named Waterloft and Naturecruiser. Versions will differ only in the presence of the motor. Such a functional feature will allow an autonomous house to move along rivers and lakes.

According to representatives of both companies, autonomous floating houses are in great demand and will surely find their niche in the global market for alternative technologies. Living in such a house, you can travel on water without leaving the walls of the home. It should be noted that the autonomous house will be able to moor freely at the berths. This will allow the owners of such a home without a problem to stop at the marinas and ports, traveling by the nearest waterways.

The author and ideological inspirer of the project, Jorrit Hauert, says that autonomous houses owe their appearance to his long-time dream of living on water. This was the impetus for the development of high-tech houseboat. In the company of his fellow engineers, the author of the project managed to design a ship with the appearance of a traditional ground dwelling.

The developers have already developed the concept of a new house, which has a streamlined facade and rounded bends. In addition, such a dwelling will have an aluminum housing, which will significantly increase its reliability and service life. Inside the new house will have a finish of wood. Photovoltaic modules will be placed on the roof of the house. Solar collectors will be located there. This equipment will provide a sufficient amount of electricity and heat the water. Thus, the owners of floating houses will fully travel by water without any hardships in matters of comfort.

The internal space of the autonomous floating house will be equipped with the latest interior fashion. The creators of the first models of water houses are equipped with electric motors that will provide movement. New conceptual models are planned to be equipped with hydrogen engines. The water supply on board such a ship-home is provided by the water outside. The work of sewage in the house is provided similarly. Before use, the seawater is filtered by a special cleaning system, after which it becomes suitable for use.

The creators of the houseboat stated that only environmentally friendly materials would be used for interior decoration. The main component will be natural wood. Styrofoam and mineral wool used to decorate traditional dwellings will not be used to create autonomous homes.

The Naturecruiser model is designed for eight permanent residents. The length of such a house is 15 meters. During parking, it can accommodate up to 16 people. Model Waterloft has a length of 24 meters. Such a house can easily accommodate 25 permanent residents for 50 guests during the stay. The living space of autonomous housing, depending on the model, varies from 50-125 square meters.

The cost of an autonomous house – 535 thousand euros for the Naturecruiser model and 899 thousand euros for the Waterloft.

New record of Ukrainian renewable energy

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New record of Ukrainian renewable energy

On the territory of Ukraine, more alternative capacities have been installed in one quarter than in the whole of last year. During the three months of 2019, experts recorded the commissioning of 862 megawatts of new capacity in the field of renewable energy. It is worth noting that last year 848 megawatts earned in 12 months.

Experts in the field of alternative energy point out that the domestic energy market will be replenished with 730 million euros of investment after such an amazing leap.

During the first quarter of 2019, it was commissioned:

– 684 megawatts of solar power;

– 173 megawatts of wind power stations;

– 5 megawatts of additional capacity from biogas plants;

– 0.1 megawatts of small hydropower plants.

According to statistics, over the past five years in Ukraine, 2,200 megawatts of capacity were put into operation. Financial investments in the implementation of projects in the field of alternative energy amounted to 2 billion euros.

Regular inflow of large amounts of investment allows renewable energy in our country to develop at an accelerated pace. In addition, funding from European companies has a positive effect on the country’s economy as a whole.

It should be noted that home SES in our country significantly replenish this energy niche. The results summed up by the State Energy Efficiency in 2018 showed that 7,500 households acquired solar power plants. The total capacity of these stations was 160 megawatts. Over the past year, the total number of household SES increased by 4,500. Compared with 2017, this figure is two times higher. In 2017, 1901 private solar stations were commissioned.

Investments of Ukrainians, who decided to install a solar power plant on the territory of their household, amounted to about 151 million euros in total.

Rating of regions of Ukraine on the installation of home SES:

1st place – Dnipropetrovsk region. It installed 882 stations.

2nd place – Kiev region. The number of home solar stations was 838.

3rd place – Ternopil region with the number of 664 stations.

4th place goes to Ivano-Frankivsk region. There were 484 home SES installed.

5th place was taken by Kirovograd region. There appeared 469 new solar stations of private order.

According to experts in the field of renewable energy, such popularity of household SES is directly related to the Law No. 514, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted in 2015. This legislative document has opened the following possibilities:

– Ukrainians can install solar stations with a capacity of up to 30 kilowatts and sell surplus generated electricity to the state (this is possible due to the established “green” tariff);

– individual houses, where SES are installed, significantly save on utility bills (first of all it concerns electricity);

– The market for solar panels is growing rapidly;

– there is a need for the emergence of production capacity for the manufacture of solar equipment (additional jobs).

State Energy Efficiency said that the development of small solar energy will not stop there. A new law is prepared, which regulates the installation of solar stations with a capacity of up to 50 kilowatts on the territory of private houses. At the moment, the bill is under consideration by Parliament.

Stable profits from solar energy – a startup

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Stable profits from solar energy – a startup

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.

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