South African buy-to-lease solar marketplace Sun Exchange has announced the crowd-sale is now open for a new 473kW solar project to power Cape Town-based post-consumer recycled plastics (rPET) bottles manufacturer Nioro Plastics.
Sun Exchange has developed a fintech platform that promotes sustainable business practises by connecting conscious capital to commercial solar projects.
The Nioro Plastics campaign, which is now open, will be the largest Sun Exchange crowd-sale to date, and will focus on minimising the negative environmental impacts of the plastics industry. Through the Sun Exchange platform, users can buy solar cells installed onto the roof of Nioro Plastics, which are leased to give the plastic producer low-cost access to clean energy for a period of 20 years.
“We encourage the use of recycling and certainly having some of the energy required for the production of these plastic bottles being solar-driven would be a very good and positive thing,” said Simeon Penev, managing director of Nioro Plastics. “It’s a good investment for the people leasing solar cells, because after all they will be making money!”
Abraham Cambridge, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Sun Exchange, said the crowd-sale set a global precedent for the use of solar power and sustainable practices in the plastics industry in South Africa and beyond.
“Anyone interested in conscious capital should participate in the crowd sale and capture the opportunity to earn money while doing good and promoting clean power, all of which can be done with the click of a button through Sun Exchange,” he said.
Currently, Sun Exchange users can choose to receive rental payments in bitcoin or their local currency. Sun Exchange also recently introduced SUNEX, its own digital rewards token, which can be earned to get discounts on the marketplace and can be staked into a solar project insurance fund.
The SUNEX Network Token is currently available for purchase through a public token sale event which will run until July 31.
