Cape Town - The SunCash initiative, brainchild of Cape Town-based blockchain start-up Momint, is working with non-profit organisation Philisa Abafazi Bethu (PAB) to keep gender-based violence survivors safe during load shedding by securing full solar installations at safehouses in the Western Cape, through crowdfunding.
PAB founder and director Lucinda Evans said: “Every time the power cuts, it’s a traumatic, fearful experience. Many of the women and children here have escaped violent, dangerous situations, and have restraining orders against their attackers.
“A safehouse cannot protect survivors of GBV when our electric fencing doesn’t work. We should also never find ourselves in a situation where our camera feed is down – we cannot afford that degree of vulnerability.”
SunCash, a solar power blockchain investment initiative, has agreed to sponsor the initial cost of fully transitioning PAB’s safehouse in Cape Town to renewable, solar energy to help keep survivors safe during load shedding.
Spokesperson, Ahren Posthumus, said: “SunCash was launched in January to provide South Africans with a cost-effective solution to solve the energy crisis. Through SunCash, South Africans can buy solar cells for as low as R85 and sell their solar energy back to public institutions through a Standard Power Purchase Agreement.”
To fund the installations at PAB’s safehouse, SunCash financed the R252 000 needed, and called on South Africans and surrounding communities to participate in the crowdfunding model to help prove the feasibility of this project.
This initiative falls under “impact investing”, and Posthumus believes it will go a long way to help in South Africa’s transition to renewable, solar energy and provide a stable power supply to the women and children who make use of these centres.
“An added incentive is that solar cell buyers will also earn a return on their investment – targeted at around 12% per annum,” Posthumus said.
If this crowdfunding model succeeds, SunCash aims to install solar panels at 12 safehouses in the Western Cape. It has partnered with Trust Solar for the installations and Carbon Zero Solar to ensure solar cell buyers earn a return on their investment through the revenue generated by the energy and carbon credits of each panel.
CEO at Cape Town-based Solar PV company Trust Solar, Tyger Geldenhuis, said: “This will help decrease the load on Eskom as well.
“It is so fitting that the private sector would help find a solution to the safehouse crisis, just one week ahead of Human Rights Day.”
kristin.engel@inl.co.za