Monday
November 16
2020

Crypto-Enabled Sun Exchange Expands in Africa With Solar-Plus-Storage Project for Nhimbe Fresh

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Sun Exchange, the world’s first peer-to-peer solar leasing platform, has announced its expansion into sub-Saharan Africa with the launch of the crowdsale for Phase 1 of a multiphase 1.9 megawatt (MW) solar-plus-storage project for Nhimbe Fresh, a premier exporter of fresh produce in Marondera, Zimbabwe. This will be the largest Sun Exchange solar installation to date and the first outside South Africa.

The announcement demonstrates swift progress towards sub-Saharan Africa expansion goals set forth in June, when Sun Exchange announced the close of a $4 million Series A funding round after securing a $3 million investment from ARCH Emerging Market Partners Limited’s Africa Renewable Power Fund (ARPF).

The multiphase solar and battery project will power Nhimbe Fresh packhouse and cold store facilities (phase 1), pump sites (phase 2), and Churchill Farm (phase 3). The introduction of continuous, reliable power, at a lower cost than running diesel generators, is forecast to reduce the Nhimbe Fresh facilities’ energy costs by more than 60% per year and carbon emissions by more than one million kilograms per year.

Photo courtesy of cowins.

Source: The Fintech Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Agriculture, Energy
Tags
renewable energy, smallholder farmers, youth