Clean energy investor and asset manager Decentral Energy Managers - has closed over 2MW of energy projects in the financial year ending February 2019. The project offtakers are a blend of South African clients from the industrial, retail and tourism sectors, all of which demonstrate strong credit worthiness. Currently under operation is a 471kW rooftop solar project, completed with partners The Sun Exchange. In addition, the next three projects are currently in the construction phase and will be complete by the end of Q2 2019 with EPC contractor Solareff having been awarded the construction contracts on two shopping malls in the portfolio. The bulk of the portfolio is based on 20-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s).
Decentral manages Grovest Energy Limited - a Section 12J company for which the project portfolio was developed. Grovest Energy provides a low-risk, high-yield, tax deductible retail investment product which delivers solid returns on the back of a portfolio of clean energy assets. The advisory board and executive team share the goal of expedient capital deployment, and projects must be below permitting thresholds in order to avoid protracted development periods. Every project is analysed in detail, with input from specialist legal and technical advisors, and must be approved by the Investment Committee which comprises members with vast financial, technical and business experience. By investing in a portfolio of small scale projects across various sectors, the fund reduces concentration risk and defends investor capital. In addition, every R1 million invested into Grovest Energy sees an estimated 112 man-months created and 3 356 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions avoided.
Decentral’s experience in utility scale projects and the rigorous project finance environment has been transferred cost effectively to the micro scale with the team successfully building a robust asset portfolio. Decentral has committed and deployed 90% of the funds capital and is now in its fundraising window which closes at the end of February 2019. The group intends to raise the required capital to fund it’s expanding project portfolio. With the combination of projected electricity price increases, load shedding and clean energy technology cost reductions, Decentral is perfectly placed to invest in much needed low cost, small scale clean energy assets.