SUNEX, a new South African cryptocurrency representing the value of power produced and dispatched from the bearer’s solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, helps to support and accelerate the roll-out and use of PV solar renewable-energy technologies, says Sun Exchange cofounder and CEO Abraham Cambridge.
The exponential reduction in costs of renewable-energy technologies is changing the business models of electricity generation and supply worldwide.
Members of Sun Exchange can buy and then lease out solar cells to be used by schools, factories and hospitals in emerging markets. There are more than 30 000 solar PV panels included in the SUNEX, with the main discrete units of solar assets being the individual cells of a PV panel sold through the Sun Exchange.
This enables bulk agreements and rates, which provide for more stable and sustainable demand for power produced by the cells.
“The aim of the SUNEX currency is to accelerate the roll-out and use of PV solar renewable-energy technologies by incentivising our members to build a diversified and socially impactful portfolio of solar assets and help to stimulate investment in solar energy.”
Further, the users of the SUNEX currency can access predictable yields, owing to the consistent and forecastable generation of electricity, of about 10% a year, if the solar plants are well designed, notes Cambridge.
Suitability The role of vetting the financial and technical viability and suitability of solar PV plants to potentially add to the Sun Exchange is done by the exchange and its network of technical specialists and partners.
“The technology to harvest sunlight to produce power is in place and, with the advent of blockchain technology, we have the system to distribute value universally at very low cost. There is an urgent need for clean energy worldwide. “What is required to accelerate the deployment and use of solar generation technologies is democratic financing and a market.”
The Sun Exchange enables easy ownership of solar generation assets, while providing a for the billions in the world that need it, he adds.
Additionally, each purchase through the Sun Exchange earns the buyer SolarCoin tokens, which, in the future, may represent carbon credits, owing to the clean energy generation asset it represents, and, therefore, could also represent a tradeable commodity in carbon trading markets.
“New energy technologies are decentralised and democratic. We foresee that solar PV projects that are added to the Sun Exchange will allow for inclusivity and for communities to fund solar energy projects in their areas and gain funding for the project, owing to the predictable yields investors will get.”
Cambridge adds that the solar projects that are part of the exchange are fully compatible with new energy technologies, including energy storage technologies and, thus, the value of the exchange and the solar projects it represents will continue to grow.