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- Pretoria Boys High is getting a new solar PV system that was funded by a Bitcoin investor.
- The school will pay the funders based on the output of the solar panels.
- The schools headmaster said it will save on energy costs and did not have any initial capital expenditure.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
An investor, and Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS) old boy, used Bitcoin to buy a solar system worth R2.8 million for the school.
PBHS was crowdsourcing a solar PV system through the Sun Exchange platform, which enables organisations such as schools and businesses to get access to solar energy systems for no upfront capital cost.
The platform allows any individual or corporation to buy and earn income from solar cells to power projects in Southern Africa.
Solar cell purchases can be made in Bitcoin or standard currency.
Sun Exchange levies a R1.21 per kilowatt hour fee from customers and passes on a R0.88 per kilowatt hour return to cell owners after their service fee and insurance is deducted.
READ | Eskom releases statistics showing SA’s solar surge, but with a slightly misleading label
Greg Hassenkamp, the headmaster of PBHS, said that having the solar system would reduce the school's energy costs.
"Clean energy will benefit our entire campus, including our classrooms, laboratories, and special venues. At the same time the project will reduce our energy costs and carbon footprint," he said.
The cell owner will continue to earn rental income from the solar system for the next 20 years.
Sun Exchange CEO Saul Wainwright said that finding solar financing solutions was important to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.
He said:
A Sun Exchange statement on the PBHS crowdsourcing said that the solar system would prevent 5 800 tonnes of carbon from going into the atmosphere, the equivalent of 210 000 petrol cars being off the road for one year.
PBHS is one of 34 schools that News24 is aware of that has completed a crowdsourcing project through Sun Exchange.
READ MORE | Load shedding: Western Cape schools turn to solar power
There has been a dramatic increase in the output of solar systems not contracted to Eskom over the last 18 months.
An Eskom study estimates that between March 2022 and June 2023 there was an almost 350% increase in the maximum output of solar in South Africa that is not contracted to the utility.
