South African energy-fintech startup Sun Exchange has announced a pivot away from its original crowdsale model towards an institution-focused approach towards funding small-scale solar projects. Launched in 2015, Sun Exchange started out as a peer-to-peer solar leasing platform that enabled anyone, anywhere in the world, to buy remotely-located solar cells that power schools, businesses and other organisations. It’s what allowed us to build a global community of solar power supporters and what established Sun Exchange as an innovative industry leader,” it said. “The crowdsale model is, unfortunately, no longer a viable business model for Sun Exchange.”Since introducing its institutional funder programme at the end of 2022, Sun Exchange has partnered with Absa, Allotrope Partners, Cars.co.za, CVE, Energea, Hannover Re and Jaltech to fund solar projects. “Simultaneously, the unprecedented levels of load shedding in South Africa since mid-2021 have led to a spike in demand for battery-integrated solar projects from our end users.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 19, 2024 20:08 UTC