Nearly nine years ago, SunEx was launched with the purpose of creating a better world for future generations with solar power. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished working towards that goal with our global community. Starting with a single 15 kW solar project in 2015, we’ve now enabled clean, reliable, affordable electricity for more than 90 high-impact organisations (and counting), including schools, farms, retirement homes, small businesses and NPOs, among others. We’ve now deployed enough solar panels to cover nearly eight rugby fields.
The initial inspiration for SunEx was rooted in the urgent need to address the climate crisis, and that remains a powerful motivator for us. However, we now also find ourselves playing a critical and unexpected role in responding to South Africa’s energy crisis. This has brought challenges and opportunities that are bigger and more urgent than we could have imagined in the early days. With a landscape that has so markedly changed in recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that for SunEx to continue growing successfully and sustainably, we too must evolve.
A new focus on project development and institutional funders
Today, we’re announcing a new strategic phase for SunEx, honing in on the expertise and reputation we’ve built offering comprehensive, world-class solar power and energy storage solutions to organisations across sectors in South Africa over the last nine years. Under the leadership of our new CEO, Saul Wainwright, we’re shifting our focus entirely to full-service commercial solar power and energy storage project development, with all our projects funded via a growing global network of trusted corporate and institutional funders. This enables us to continue serving our core sectors of high-impact organisations including schools, retirement homes, NPOs and agriculture, while expanding into larger commercial and industrial projects as well. The incredible momentum we’ve seen since launching our corporate and institutional funder programme, clearly signals that this is the best path forward for SunEx to continue making an impact with solar power.
However, as with most moments of change and growth, this pivot also comes with challenges and mixed emotions. The most difficult part of this transition is that we’re moving away from the original crowdsale-based model, which has been core to SunEx since its founding. It’s what allowed us to build a global community of solar power supporters and what established SunEx as an innovative industry leader. As you’ll read more about below, the crowdsale model is, unfortunately, no longer a viable business model for SunEx.
The challenges with crowdsales amid the energy crisis
Last year was SunEx’s biggest year so far. Despite the slower traction of our crowdsales, we funded projects to the tune of R92 million, of which R76 million (82%) came from corporate and institutional funders. That’s 114% year-on-year growth compared to 2022. In December, we announced the completion of the largest school solar project in the Western Cape, the 470 kW solar plus 700 kWh storage HTS Drostdy solar project in Worcester, South Africa. Now, we’re in the process of installing our largest project across all sectors, a 544 kW solar plus 1,415 kWh storage project powering Vaandrigsdrift, a commercial dairy farm in Swellendam, South Africa.
Since introducing our institutional funder programme at the end of 2022, we’ve partnered with Absa, Allotrope Partners, Cars.co.za, CVE, Energea, Hannover Re and Jaltech to fund solar projects, and that list continues to grow.
However, the growth in funding from institutions stands in stark contrast to the decline in crowdsale demand over the last two years, which we believe is due to a complex confluence of internal and external factors. 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. Compared to the standalone solar PV projects SunEx focused on in the early years, storage-integrated projects require significantly higher capital expenditure and are difficult and slow to fund via crowdsales, leading to disruptions in development timelines and increased costs. Institutional and corporate funders, on the other hand, are able to fund entire projects at once in a defined amount of time.
The way forward
We have always thought of SunEx as a collective and that hasn’t changed. What we’ve achieved to date has only been possible through the collaborative efforts of an inspired community coming together to pursue a shared vision of a future powered by sustainable energy. That includes our staff, solar cell owners, solar customers, development and installation partners, investors and, most recently, institutional funders. Our utmost priority at this time is to ensure the sustainability of SunEx and the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
Here is what SunEx CEO, Saul Wainwright, had to say about the company’s new strategic focus:
“SunEx is a recognised and trusted solar leader, having deployed solar and storage projects for more than 90 organisations across sectors — one of the largest fleets of commercial projects in South Africa. This track record underscores the strength of our world-class project development capabilities, funder network and unparalleled commitment to ensuring our customers’ solar power journey is seamless and rewarding. With a sharp focus on connecting a growing network of trusted funders with promising solar and storage project opportunities, we’re poised to continue growing our impact well into the future. We’re deeply grateful for the global community who have believed in SunEx from the start. We wouldn’t be where we are without you. We look forward to the next chapter on our journey to empower South Africa’s future with clean, reliable energy.”
If you have any questions about today’s news, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our customer team: hello@thesunexchange.com.
